Olukiyesimi Omotosho

“A Week Away” Was Not A Good Movie (To ME) and Shouldn’t Be Watched or Encouraged by Christians. Especially your youth groups.  Just throwing out that this review is written by an 18 year black girl. I’m a Christian, a child of God, and if you’re a Christian, and know that being a Christian is not just a label but a Godly lifestyle you should not entertain yourself or anyone with this movie that appears to be Christian-orientated.  The acceptance of these movies is part of the reason why the American church is where they are now, and why watered down happy-go-luck-Christianity is such a prominent feature within it. ****Here are my points:- - What sounded like it should have been a movie about finding Jesus (which is what should be happening to lost youth attending a christian camp) ended up being a movie about finding a girl.  - It was like a movie not made by Christians but by Hollywood who is poking at the facade people have with christian camps being a time when people act crazy and start dating. - Gives people an impression that christian camps are a time to find your true love.  - It takes a worldly culture of dating / pursuing just because you like someone and share a similar interest with them, which many Christians out there actually believe you should do, to date and try it out until one sticks. And with that culture they try to mix it with a Godly culture, and as a result God’s standard is simply not there. - They made references to secular movies / things much more than they did about anything in The Bible or about God. So much so that the mentioning of secular movies became a prominent feature of this movie.  - All their songs were about God but there was nearly no actual dialogue about God, even though its a christian camp. Jesus’ name was mentioned maybe 2-3 times. But definitely not more than 5 times. - When they did talk about The Bible it was all very surface level things. And very brief.  - There are so many times Jesus should have been explained to be the true answer to every ones problems, but instead 98% of the time they pointed to their relationships being the answer. It’s very man-dependent. They relied on each other first for comfort instead of God. Especially with Will even though someone could have easily taught Him to go to God first, not just saying “God only knows the real you” but adding on to tell Him to actually go and seek God.  - Found it kind of stereotypical and lacking in diversity. Hardly any people of color. Stereotypical  “nerds” wearing glasses. Stereotypical black woman being the loud “uh-uh” supporting role. So many cliche and cheesy scenes that it makes me cringe (either that or the sudden turn-around plot holes) In youth-audience musicals I feel like cliche / cheesy scenes are sometimes part of the aesthetic about it so thats alright. - Simply doesn’t encourage God’s desire and will for us concerning how to approach your love-life where you’re supposed to go to God and see if that’s the one He has for you or not and whether or not you are to pursue. Instead they immediately fall head over heels and proceed to ENTERTAIN those feelings, so much so that there are 2 kiss scenes and someone starts talking about marriage immediately after. Bruh. Lack of boundaries all around even though boundaries needs to be heavily encouraged with my fellow youth today.  Hope this helps. I encourage you to read other 1 star reviews and you’ll see we’re all saying the same thing!