Jessica Chastain was fantastic in this otherwise middling, unfocused and vague biographical drama of ex-televangelist, LGBTQ-icon, Tammy Faye Bakker. Not only was Chastain lost in the make-up and prosthetics, she was also fully immersed in her role, giving a full-bodied and unapologetic performance, embracing the voice, the idiosyncrasies, the mannerisms of one Tammy Faye. But if only the screenplay, by Abe Slyvia, managed to support her.
Chastain and Andrew Garfield had great chemistry together, and Garfield on his own did good work in portraying Jim Bakker, but we never really got to deep dive into either Tammy Faye as a person or their marriage. Consequently, the movie always just felt that much more superficial and lacking in focus. It seemed more interested in painting the broad strokes of the Praise The Lord empire - and they were very broad strokes - than filling in the shades and hues of the people that created the PTL network.
Regardless, Chastain was indeed very good, and in the footsteps of Charlize Theron in Monster and Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour, the Oscar will be hers to lose (and the SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards have also kind of cemented that). But unfortunately, just like Renee Zellweger for Judy and Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady, the talented Chastain will get rewarded for a so-so film.
In Tammy Faye, Chastain avoided the easy route of an all-out impression and mimicry, instead - in some of the film's finer (not finest) moments - Chastain allowed us to glimpse the fragility and naivety that still remained this louder-than-life personality. It is to her credit that Tammy Faye was not just a one-note, two-dimensional character.
Cherry Jones, as Tammy Faye's mother, was the only other supporting actor that seemed to be able to hold onto her own, and their relationship, as brief as it was depicted in these 126 minutes, was actually a highlight. The evolution and the unspoken love was more so than anything between Tammy Faye and Jim.
The Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling is almost guaranteed, and barring an upset, Chastain will finally get her first Oscar, ten years after her first nomination.
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