worth it for Steve Martins performance and the incredible performances by the choir

A one off from Mr. Martin - sure it is a simple message and not up to everyone’s standards. It is also something you may want to watch with preteen and have a discussion about Faith and just happenstance. The entourage is completely believable as the type of personalities that you’ll see except this one had a variety of up-and-coming stars. Seems like a movie that was made with good people by someone that just wanted to get a little message out there that was positive.

“Spo!ler” alert: butterflies live maybe a month or two; movie relies on the very smoke and mirrors shallowness that its theme purports to reveal. The choir was the best part. The tap dancing around use of knowledge about people, for good or for evil, for better or for worse was quick and sharp. Steve Martin’s performance is dazzlingly kinetic AND it takes up far too much of the movie…he just had to get more time for his physical humor, perhaps the director was a tad to smitten with it also? Debra Winger’s brown eyes’ and LIam Neeson’s (misspelled likely) deep voiced earnestnesses don’t make up for the shallowness of the film except for a minute or two here and there. Oh and Lukas Haas’ big brown eyes too. Such a good cast but couldn’t carry the weak plot. There are “Miracles” in reality and this film contained none of them except perhaps the choir’s ability to levitate folks’ soul.

This was such an engaging movie with good acting and script. I saw it years ago when it first came out and checked it out again. The ending leaves a lot to be desired but I still enjoyed the movie. It's definitely worth the watch.

Really quite good. 👍🏻

Steve Martin this movie aged so well -

Although a hard core agnostic, I love this movie 😁😁😁

Literally one of my favorite movies. Steve Martin at his Steve Martinest

fun to watch and also moving...

Best Christian movie that is NOT a Christian movie!!! Incredible soundtrack too!

Leap of Faith only works because of the talented Steve Martin. You really couldn't imagine anyone else in the lead role. The film has a wealth of upcoming actors and they bring added depth to their minor one note characters. The film deserves rediscovery and it's nice to find a 90s film that tends to ignore the cliche screenplays of the era.

An uneven script undermines a strong cast.

One of the most underrated and misunderstood films of all time. Beautiful.

Still stands up at least somewhat to the test of time (viewed in 2/2020). The all-black chorus is a bit silly, but the inclusion of numerous black actors is unique for a movie of its time, though none play major parts. A young Liam Neeson & a young Philip Seymour Hoffman are both featured.

I alway get a kick out of this film, some heart, some humour, interesting concept. I have to watch it every few years.

I was gonna watch the Stepfather 3, but I honestly don't think I could have lived through another terrible slasher that devalues the good name of the original Stepfather. I may watch it tonight, though, not sure yet. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, let's move on, shall we? I've always been honest and upfront about my general dislike for organized religion. It's a business, just like any other. Not just that, but you could also say that I'm an unbeliever. Because I could practice a religion while still being against the idea of it being treated more like a business. But, and this is something I've mentioned several times in some reviews, I don't think I've ever believed in the existence of a higher being. I just don't. It has never made sense to me and I do not understand how it makes sense to the people who do believe. So, yes, I'm an atheist, but at the same time, I don't begrudge anyone who chooses to believe in a higher being. Life is hard enough and if religion offers you comfort during difficult times, and you don't use it to justify your own prejudices (as many people do), then who am I to deny you that comfort??? Televangelism, however, that's another breed of scum entirely. I really do happen to have the lowest of opinions for these people, who, the most successful of which, build a massive empire based on the donations of people who believe that the person they're giving their money to is an actual emissary of god. These televangelists take advantage of others that need real support, whether physical or emotional, to screw them out of their hard-earned money with the promises that the donations will help the televangelist in question solve the problems in your life. That's real scum at work. And that's not even getting into the ones that claim to be healers. This is the worst, because the people that go to these events are led to believe that they will be cured of their sickness. Instead of getting the help they actually need, they rely on a con man to help them get better. That's just sick. Cause someone might have cancer and their last resort, and this is how desperate they are, might be to go to one of these healers who, in the long run, won't be able to do anything to heal them of their disease and, yet, the televangelists take their money and feed them false hope. And let's not get into the trickery that goes involved in this. How the televangelist has a group of eyes and ears among the crowd, picking up on conversations that might be of use to the televangelist. I'll stop because, if not, I'll be here forever about how much I hate televangelists. The point is, however, that this world, as far as I can see, hasn't been explored as much as one would probably like. Now, to be fair, this movie is closer to the days of the scandals that plagued people like, say, Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart found themselves in at the time. So who knows how many comedies came out parodying televangelists during this era, but I still don't feel that there's as many as there should be given the potential of some really great satirical comedy. And there's still potential with this to this day, since people like Joel Osteen, who's another insincere fuck. This guy uses religion to portray this good guy image when he's proven to be anything but when it comes to helping people in need in real life, when all the cameras are off. So, honestly, I'm a little disappointed that this seems to be the major movie tackling these fuckers. And, I'll be frank, this movie doesn't really use its concept as well as it probably should have. This is the very definition of a missed opportunity, because here they have this shot at this really edgy satire that parodies televangelists and, instead, they chose to make it a dramedy about Jonas' exploitation of this small town and their needs, the farmers need rain or else their crops will die and this is a major plot point in the movie, but Jonas also exploits their little issues for his own gains. He's buttering these people up to make them more susceptible to give him their money with the smoke and mirrors he's got set up as part of his ministry. But the movie doesn't choose to employ a darker narrative approach as, instead, it ends up being somewhat of a crowd-pleasing story about Jonas', eventual, search for redemption through his 'friendship' with Boyd, who's in crutches as a result of a car accident. I don't know, it just didn't really work for me. I only really watched this because of Steve Martin, because he's always good, no matter what. And he's very good here, for sure, but there's something about his performance that just didn't click. He was being way too Steve Martin-y during the ministry shows to come across as a legitimate televangelist. While he's great in these sections, I still felt I was watch Steve Martin parodying a televangelist. I wasn't as immersed in the character as I'd hoped I would be. Everything outside the ministry shows themselves is great, however, when you really see the type of person that Jonas is. A manipulative liar who takes advantage of people that really need help and, when faced with trying to help Boyd in the climax of the film, he freezes up, believing that Boyd and his sister, Marva, are better con artists than he was. But, of course, since this is a crowd-pleasing movie, Boyd being able to walk again after touching a crucifix is treated as a legit miracle. I don't believe in miracles, but say that we're going with that. It is what it is. What I don't like, however, is how Jonas, in spite of everything, is portrayed relatively positively. Because, apparently, changing at the end of the movie negates the damage that he has done to people with his bullshit throughout the years. The character of Jonas really should have been as detestable as humanly possible, there should have been no redeemable qualities and no redemption for his character. Because, in a way, and not that they're being explicit about this, they're sort of saying that what these people did is OK because if, in the end, they change for the better, then it doesn't matter how many people you hurt, manipulated and screwed out of their money. It's absurd to me. Regardless, there's some plot threads that I didn't really enjoy. As an example, everything with Jane becoming romantically involved with Will, the sheriff who tries to put a stop to Jonas' show, was a little forced. It just didn't feel like a natural romance. Plus, some of the best scenes in the movie involve Debra Winger and Steve Martin and how their characters play off of each other. Debra's character being involved in a romance takes away from that. I don't know, the comedy isn't consistent either. There's certainly some laughs here, but they are in no way memorable in any discernible way. This is a solidly cast movie so, in that regard, I can't complain about this whatsoever. But I felt that, as a whole, there's nothing about this that feels that inspired. The character is great and they do some solid stuff with that but, sadly, it gets bogged down in that atypical Hollywood comedy of giving a detestable character some sort of redemption. There's also some sentimentality that feels unnatural, this is during the scene where Boyd is able to walk again. Forced romance as well. I don't know, this feels like a major missed opportunity to me, which I believe I already mentioned. This isn't bad, not in the slightest, but should have been far more given the potential it had. I'd say it's actually a fairly decent movie that probably started as something darker and more satirical, but, sadly, ended up morphing into something a little more casual as its script was developed and that's a shame.

Tame in comparison to what sort of satire it ostensibly wants to be. Martin is just fine as a smarmy religious con, and the revival scenes are electric, but otherwise too many punches pulled and too many formulaic decisions for this to really have any bite. In the end, the movie turns the preacher into all but a saint: He produces at least two miracles, albeit indirectly (though all miracles are indirect, coming not from man but god, yeah?) The idea would be worth revisiting today, but only with a change in target-instead of mocking small town faith, play up tv preachers offering up the prosperity gospel.

Ambitious and I almost gave it up. However, there was a scene that reminded me of what faith is and how it is beautiful. When you have that faith then all things seems to work out. Rarely is that ever captured by Hollywood.

I was wondering how this got such a poor user review. Maybe it was HBO replays, but I feel like I've seen this 100x. And, I couldn't help but watch again and check the reviews. Bottom line: a bunch of crazy-Christians can't handle the perfectly entertaining look presented in this movie. It's got a great cast: Steve Martin, Liam Neeson, Debra Winger, and even bit roles by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meatloaf. And, it's pretty funny and entertaining beginning to end.

A side-show specialist used his skills to make an honest living. Unfortunately his lack of faith can't explain every miracle that tests his skeptical heart. Life, with opportunities to interact with others, is the true blessing.