The rise and fall of televangelists Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) and Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield) as told through the eyes of Tammy Faye. 

Opening in 1952 we see a young Tammy Faye desperate to join her mother in church and convinced that God has spoken to her. In 1960 at college she meets and falls in love with Jim Bakker after being impressed with his bible knowledge and together they set out as soldiers of Christianity to spread the word of the lord. We then follow them over the course of the next thirty-four years as they build a televangelist empire that will eventually crumble beneath them. 

It is a slightly paradoxical story in that it paints Tammy Faye as a naïve and innocent woman unaware of the financial misdeeds her husband committed whilst she buys fur coats and lives in palatial mansions. The story presents Tammy Faye as someone who simply wanted to spread the message that God loves everybody and actively believed she and Jim were doing right. And yet it does completely nail the hypocrisy of Jim and rival televangelist Jerry Falwell (Vincent D’Onofrio). Perhaps I am cynical but I have a high amount of scepticism that Tammy Faye was as unaware as the film plays out. 

There is also a sense of the film both being a whirlwind of a rush and also dragging on too long. Covering just over thirty years in its main story in the space of 126 minutes means that there are moments that feel glossed over (the Bakker’s children for one) whilst it also seems to drag in the final third. 

Where the film does excel though is in the lead performances. Andrew Garfield is universally excellent but the entire film is a vehicle for the sort of Oscar baiting, scenery chewing turn that Jessica Chastain can grab with both hands and boy does she rise to the challenge. Opening as a teenager and ending as a middle aged woman Chastain wears many prosthetics and much make up in her bid to deliver the goods. The testament to how much she delivers is the fact that she makes Tammy Faye a sympathetic character. 

It is an enjoyable watch but does leave you wanting for more detail and more depth.