The Shack

A man whose daughter was murdered receives a note asking him to return to the shack where it happened, and meets God there. It comes from William P. Young's 2007 novel. The casting drew the most attention. Octavia Spencer plays God the Father, Avraham Aviv Alush plays Jesus and Sumire Matsubara the Holy Spirit. That choice set off a real theological argument. Albert Mohler called the depiction profoundly unbiblical, and scholar James B. DeYoung attacked its universalist leanings. The gap between critics and audiences is striking. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 20 percent, with the consensus saying the script confuses spiritual uplift with melodramatic cliché. CinemaScore audiences gave it an A. It shot in Vancouver from June 2015 on a 20 million dollar budget and grossed 96.9 million worldwide. Who it is for: viewers who want faith-based drama and films that address grief head-on. Who it is not for: anyone needing theological coherence or subtlety in the telling. Feeling comes before argument here.