Sometimes a movie just gets too structurally cutesy for its own good—and that’s part of what hamstrings this faith-based-on-a-true-story drama. It’s the story of Chris Williams (Thomas Ian Cusick), an LDS bishop whose life is shattered when his pregnant wife and two of his children are killed in a car accident with a drunk 17-year-old driver, and has to figure out how he can forgive and move on. The narrative moves back and forth between the near aftermath of the accident and legal proceedings six months later, and there’s a general plodding lugubriousness to the film as Chris mourns while getting advice from pretty much everyone he encounters, including a convenience store clerk. But the larger problem is that Just Let Go builds to a revelation that feels designed merely as a big “surprise!” while never helping inform the first hour, except for resulting in the character of Chris’ mother (Brenda Vaccaro) making no sense whatsoever. The well-intentioned lessons about forgiveness and redemption can provide their own emotional impact; a script has a responsibility for creating characters who behave like actual people.
By
Scott Renshaw