LDS Movie Review: "Turn Around"

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

03 Nov 2007 09:44 AM

When I first heard that the movie "Turn Around" had been released, I was pretty excited. Jordan Sorenson, the star, lived in my ward for a while and I wanted to see how he did in the film. He did a good job. I'm sorry to say, he's the only one who did.

The movie is a modern adaptation of the story of Alma the Younger. Sorenson plays Colton Pratt, a young man who was raised in an LDS home but doesn't believe the things he's been taught. He's become angry and bitter, lashing out at his family when they try to figure out what's wrong. He even vandalizes the church building one night, spray painting the walls with graffiti.

Jaci Twiss portrays Sara, also raised in the church but living her life according to the commandments. She's a tennis player and has aspirations of going places with her tennis career. She has dreams, goals, and ambitions, and she has a testimony. She has everything Colton doesn't, and so she becomes the butt of his jokes and he delights in tormenting her.

One night, Sara is on her way home from a tennis competition and Colton is on his way home from a wild party. Their cars collide and Sara is injured, leaving her tennis career hanging in the balance as she won't be able to use her knee for some time. Colton, meanwhile, has had a life-changing experience and is ready to start mending the fences he's broken. But how can he convince Sara that he's changed?

I hate to say it, but I was pretty disappointed in this movie. The acting was wooden. Sorensen was the only actor who didn't sound like he was reading all his lines from a cue card. Colton's parents pray for him to have a change of heart, but the prayer was forced and insincere, hardly believable. I didn't feel the viewer was shown enough of Colton's miraculous, life-changing event - we didn't understand what it was that made him decide to repent.

Candlelight Media, the producers, have done some good films. They produced "Saints and Soldiers," and they also did the Joseph Smith film currently being shown in the Legacy Theater in Salt Lake City. But don't go into "Turn Around" expecting that kind of quality. You won't get it.

This film is rated PG.

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Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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