Fireproof (2008)

Fireproof is an independently produced, humanitarian movie that's different. It wasn't made by liberal-arts majors or garden-variety liberals about famine in Africa or the homeless in America. In fact, you'd hardly know it but the production crew was made up of inexperienced first-timers, all members of the same Baptist church that has chosen to make movies that might inspire people's lives for good. Fireproof is certainly not a blockbuster but neither is it low-budget. While Christian at its foundation, it's not churchy and any faith talk is a brief soft sell. Fireproof is not an action movie with a romantic subplot; it is a relationship movie with a little first-responder action to set the hook. Fireproof sincerely aims to save marriages at the human level by encouraging a practical rethinking and renewal to the mutual marital covenant commitment between one man and one woman -- one couple and one step at a time. Fireproof is an emotionally powerful movie that offers the potential for authentic spiritual rejuvenation. Based on the marriage-saving book called The Love Dare, it is the story of a thirtysomething married couple in trouble -- and don't knock this couple's anger if you haven't been in such a place in marriage. Caleb (Kirk Cameron) is a firefighter who is seethingly furious with his wife because he demands her respect and doesn't get it. (I eventually realized that he relates to her in the same testosterone-drenched pattern that he relates to his successful career, job, and male coworkers -- like that's going to work, dude.) Catherine (Erin Bethea) is frigidly angry with him but can't trust him emotionally or talk about it. (Hm, I wonder why.) They're approaching a precipice called divorce -- though the movie is timid about showing how they toy with exit paths like porn or flirting -- when Caleb's father urges his son to try reading and applying a book called Fireproof Your Marriage. It's a 40-day, 40-step program to strengthen or save a marriage; on the first day, for example, Caleb is simply to not say anything critical to Catherine that he would otherwise have said. Each day is one more substantive step in self-control and positive sacrifice, each added to the previous ones; it's hard and it shows. At first, Caleb thinks it is a checklist or a formula but over time he realizes his own inner personal change is what matters since that is all he is responsible for or can control (as is true with any individual spouse in any marriage). But changing one side of the equation may help the other find equilibrium. The wrapup is realistic and yields touching revelations. Fireproof is a movie that can deeply affect those who are prepared to be inspired. I for one am happy to have seen it (in the theater) and I hope any couple who seeks or enjoys the state of marriage will see it together. 4.5 stars.