Plot Summary
Dan Donahue believes he has found the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But as he continues to struggle with anger issues, he can’t help but feel that they are related to his lack of a healthy relationship with his father. Therefore, he begins to write a letter to his estranged father detailing what he missed out on. As Dan writes, his mind drifts back to his childhood and he wonders what could have been.
Production Quality (0 points)
Exactly what is supposed to be happening with this production? Is it a flashback within a flashback or a series of flashbacks? Why are the sepia tones inconsistent? This is possibly the cheapest looking production we have ever witnessed. The camera work is deplorable and the video quality is from another century. Lighting is very amateur throughout the film. In some scenes, it is extremely hard to hear what is being said. Some sequences are dominated by the silly soundtrack. As for the editing, there is no way to understand what is even happening from one scene to the next. Everything is out of context and obscure. In summary, you can’t get any more poorly homemade than this.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
The idea behind this plot—the fact that absent fatherhood affects children later in life—is highly important and must be discussed in movie form. However, this is absolutely not the way to do it. Much like Lukewarm, an important family systems issue is made a mockery of in A Letter to Dad. There is no coherence in this storyline as the ‘plot’ meanders from letter writing flashbacks to other flashbacks to present day (we guess?). Scenes are randomly strung together with no continuity between them and the viewer is left lost in translation. Any meaning that is attempted to be conveyed goes over your head. Dialogue is choppy and inconsistent, causing the characters to be empty shells. There is really little else to be said—there is such little content in this plot that it barely registers any life.
Acting Quality (0 points)
Sadly, the bad news does not end. It’s possible that this virtually unknown and tiny cast never had a chance without acting coaching. There is literally nothing good to say here—the delivery of lines is awkward and emotions cannot be felt. There are so few cast members that it just becomes glaringly obvious that so support is being provided to them. Unfortunately, they likely wasted their time.
Conclusion
We sincerely believe that the motive behind this movie is pure, but the delivery is terrible. This one would have been better off as a short film. The good news is that it will have little to no impact in the movie industry, which means it won’t further contribute to bad publicity. However, the bad news is that the time of the creators of this film was wasted and money was dumped down the drain. Jesus spoke about counting the cost before undertaking a big project, and we believe it’s high time for Christian filmmakers to begin doing this.
Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 