I Can Only Imagine – Journey Behind the Song

By Dennis Bailey @dbaileyauthor

Welcome back to faith-based and family-friendly movie reviews. Today’s appraisal is of the true-life story behind the inspiration for perhaps the most popular song in contemporary Christian music history, Kevin Downes production of I Can Only Imagine.

The film stars J. Michael Finley as Bart Millard, lead singer of MercyMe, and focuses on the often tortured relationship between him and his father, Arthur Wesley Millard, played by Dennis Quaid. The story follows the young Millard from grade school to high school, where a serious leg injury ends the dream of his father that he become a football player. However, it is that injury that opens the door to his future career as a musician when he joins his high school Glee Club. Following graduation, Bart leaves home, and the almost daily torment of life with his abusive father, to pursue music, but returns shortly thereafter to learn that his father is dying from pancreatic cancer. Following his father’s death, Bart and the now formed MercyMe band find tough sledding as they struggle to make it in the music industry. Meanwhile Bart searches for a way to make peace of his relationship with his late father. Both issues are resolved when Bart writes his signature song.

Finley is convincing in his portrayal of the adult Bart, whether acting or singing. He possesses an exceptional singing voice in his own right (no lip-synching here) and does a more than credible job belting out the title track and the bands’ other musical numbers. Finley’s talent as a singer undoubtedly contributed to his selection for the role, as did his having the same stocky build as the real-world Bart. Quaid gives the kind of performance one would expect from a veteran actor, playing Bart’s cruel, yet emotionally blinded father. At times, he is so pathetically tormented you can’t help but feel sorry for him. Madeline Carroll, as Bart’s girlfriend, Priscilla Shirer, as his Glee Club teacher, and Cloris Leachman, as his grandmother, all turn in equally solid supporting performances. But for my money, Trace Adkins’ characterization of Scott Brickell, MercyMe’s manager is, next to Finley’s, easily the most memorable. Though he doesn’t show up until halfway through the film, it is Adkins’ character who forces Bart to face the harsh realities of the music industry, while at the same time continues to push the group to find that distinct sound that will change their fortunes. And the fact that he does so using that trademark Louisiana baritone of his is just icing on the cake.

I Can Only Imagine – Journey Behind the Song

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I Can Only Imagine is a solid film that will likely appeal more to a Christian audience than to a secular one, more so to fans of the record-breaking title song. And in a year when the Oscar for Best Picture went to a movie that glorified the perverse sexual relationship between a woman and a gill man, it should be considered an exceptional movie.

For the movie’s overall entertainment value, 3/5 projectors.   

For Christian friendliness, 5/5 fish.