Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

matthangas A heart warming story of true devotion to the message of Christ and the Cross...a dozen lives intersect at a great illuminated cross in some unnamed city...actually well acted...Brian Bosworth is quite good as Joe, the dying ex con, and Lee Majors and Cybill Shepard are great as the somewhat frumpy yet lovable couple grieving the loss of their daughter...Mira Sorvino puts in a credible effort as a struggling homeless widowed mom struggling to keep a roof over her daughter's head and food in her tummy. The real gem in this movie, though, is Makenzie Moss...utterly adorable, she has that open honesty that only a child can engender...not sure what the negative reviewers are griping about...guess some people just aren't happy, and wish no one else was either...all in all a very good movie

caseynicholson I've given this film 5/10 stars mostly due to the fact that it's extremely well made. The script, so far as the storytelling, the film's pacing etc, is quite good, as are the acting and cinematography. All in all it was a well made, well produced movie. For that reason, I've rated this movie higher than I might otherwise.However, the film is deeply problematic when it comes to its message.First, I'll reiterate what other user reviews have stated: This film is a "Crash" clone. It is a complicated story in which the lives of twelve different people are all intertwined, such that several different personal stories all wind up overlapping. Indeed, it is such an obvious ripoff of "Crash" that the movie almost constitutes plagiarism in some regards.But if you can get past that, the bigger problem with this movie is its convoluted message. The film begins with a quote from the Book of James, "Faith Without Acts is Dead". If you go and read that passage in context, you'll find that James is exhorting the faith community to do good works for the community--to care for widows and orphans, so the passage reads.As such, one might guess that surely this movie's intention is to follow in the spirit of that message. But that's not so. While the film does have a few things that can be interpreted as promoting the importance of good deeds, the more overt message seems to be that faith in action is a faith which professes itself, and one which acts by making others believe the same things you do. That's a very different message than the one that the initial quote from James is meant to convey.Early in the film a pastor at a local church is approached by a street preacher who asks him if he "believes in the cross of Christ." A short conversation ensues in which the street preacher says that to some the cross stands for forgiveness and redemption, but then asks him what does it really mean? He then states that the cross, "loves, and forgives, and demands.....demands that we profess it." The pastor then goes back and shares this message with his congregation. And so, the strong suggestion here is that faith in action is a faith that shares itself with others--one that evangelizes, and one that professes itself rather than keeping to itself.Again, this is a very different conception of faith in action than the passage that appears on screen at the beginning of the film. The movie seems to reduce James's message to sharing one's beliefs with others. That's convoluted at best--and arguably constitutes poor theology.But there are other problems.As the film progresses we meet Joe Phillips, a reformed felon who has gotten his life back on track, but who is now dying of leukemia. Near the film's end Joe passes away in a hospital bed, is dead for eight minutes, and then miraculously comes back to life and is fully healed. Through this miracle, several people come to believe in the power of God. The scene that plays out on screen is not a scene in which someone dies from an accident of some sort or a heart attack--something in which one might plausibly somehow be resuscitated, or in which doctors are working to save a man who slips away but is then brought back to life. Rather, this man is dying of a chronic disease which he has been suffering from the complications of for many months, then does in fact die, and then is miraculously healed.As a minister, I believe in miracles. But I also know that this is not how God works for folks facing end of life issues with chronic diseases. That being the case, I found this part of the film to be deeply troublesome. This movie communicates a false sense of hope to its audience, and one that bears some resemblance to the "prosperity gospel" which is so common in contemporary American culture. The message goes that if you simply believe in the power of God, God will bless you in extraordinary ways--in this case through the gift of a miraculous healing.At the end of the movie there is a strong suggestion that the intricate web of stories that the twelve-person plot has offered leads to the conclusion that "everything happens for a reason", another problematic concept inasmuch as it doesn't allow for a proper theology of sin. To suggest that everything that happens in the course of history happens for a reason is to suggest that God wills sin. The movie counters this concept elsewhere (Majors lecture to Shepherd about God's presence in the event of their daughter's death), which makes it unfortunate that it ends with a nod to this very problematic idea of determinism.Finally, one of the major points of the story revolves around a firefighter who takes a stand for his faith despite being pressured by his job. He shares his faith with a man who is on his deathbed and is then sued for doing so. The film seems to celebrate this type of evangelism—deathbed confessions, and inasmuch reduces "believing" to a type of altar call experience. The firefighter's unfolding pride of this evangelism is likewise celebrated in a way that was troublesome.That said, my big problem with this movie is that its message comes across as a hodgepodge of smaller messages, and inasmuch as that's true it's hard to really understand what the takeaway of the film is really intended to be. In attempting to put forth several ideas in one film, what we end up with is a movie that says nothing at all very well, and makes you think very hard to understand what it was trying to say. It may suit you fine for entertainment purposes, but don't expect much in the way of a good takeaway.

Lars Bear You don't have to be a Christian or, indeed, a believer of any kind to enjoy movies (or books, or plays) that have Christian themes, or that clearly promote a message. Such themes are very subtly played out in Gabriel Axel's 'Babette's Feast,' less subtly in the Narnia stories and Lord of the Rings, and rather blatantly in, for example, Ben Hur, to give only a few examples. All these have in common that they tell engaging stories in either dramatic settings, or with vivid, engaging characters, or both.'Do you believe?' has insipid, cardboard-cutout characters and no genuine drama whatever. I can't trash it completely, because it's decently acted with competent cinematography -- a slick package, in fact. So slick, in fact, as to be suspicious. This is a movie that is clearly designed to push a product, and any artistic or dramatic interest it might raise is clearly a device, directed toward that end.Although the movie is frequently described as "Christian," in reality it promotes a particular kind of US, affluent, protestant Christianity. One of the characters is a tame pastor whose role is merely to expound the doctrine of substitutionary atonement and keep everybody on message. I suspect that if you were, say, a Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox, that message would grate on you almost as much as it would on an atheist.It wouldn't be so bad if the message were not delivered in such a plodding, heavy-handed manner. All the Christian Characters are shown as self-sacrificing, noble, and charitable; everybody else as in some way defective. The non-Christians exist solely to act as foils to the Christians, and highlight their Godly virtues.I know from personal experience that most Christians are as prone to be conflicted and self-interested as anybody else, even if they aspire to higher ideals. But there's little sense of that aspiration in the movie -- even the putative "bad guys" are just good guys who have fallen in bad company, and just need a little nudge from the Big G to become fully-fledged saints. There's no sense that anybody struggles with his or her faith, or is put into real danger by it. The biggest risk that any character in the movie faces for standing up for his principles is to lose his job. Big deal -- it's not example martyrdom, is it? If you are already a Christian -- in particular, a protestant evangelical Christian -- then I guess this movie might give you a warm fuzzy. Anybody else, anybody who can look beyond the slick facade and see the not-very-subtle manipulation, will wish we hadn't stopped throwing Christians to the lions.

fcmnadur I'm glad to write a review about "Do you believe?" It's a drama that's set in the present time (nowadays). Do you believe? It's about a group of people that have their lives changed by other people in this group.Although you cannot believe in God or that He changes your life by using other people to help you by just saying a word or calling you to walk along the city I recommend you watch it.It's a wonderful story, that touches your heart, if you are sensitive, prepare the handkerchief because you may be touched like I was. Hope you all like it as I did.Thank you!