In “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” Jessica Chastain completely transforms herself to play popular and eccentric televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.
Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker (a playfully over-the-top Andrew Garfield), rose from humble beginnings to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network. Their message of love, acceptance and prosperity was eventually shattered by financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and a cheating scandal.
Sporting Faye’s iconic eyelashes, and a pound of makeup, Chastain and Garfield are the sole reason to watch writer-director Michael Showalter’s overlong and conventionally constructed movie. Chastain is perfect for the role, forget about the prosthetics for a second, she truly gets what Faye was all about — a walking contradiction of faith, acceptance and greed.
The problem is that despite Showalter seemingly avoiding a plasticized depiction of Faye, he doesn’t necessarily dig deep enough into her psyche. In Showalter’s film, she’s both smarter than she looks and totally unaware of the obviously corrupt nature of her husband’s business dealings. Showalter both celebrates and chastises her. [B-/C+]