"Faith Heals the Past"

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What You Need To Know:
SENIOR YEAR: LOVE NEVER FAILS struggles to find its footing. Marcella is perpetually angry, and C.J. seems lost. The drama is saved by an accident that brings the characters together. The writing improves, and the movie ends on some high notes that bring out strong Christian themes. Happily, the movie promotes prayer, church, Scripture reading, holy matrimony, love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Also, the dialogue cites the love passage in First Corinthians 13:4-8 several times. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger and older children for brief alcohol abuse and mature situations in SENIOR YEAR: LOVE NEVER FAILS.
Content:
More Detail:
SENIOR YEAR: LOVE NEVER FAILS is a sequel to FRESHMAN YEAR on Netflix. The movie focuses on new problems in the relationship between two college seniors, C.J. and Marcella, who have a 5-year-old daughter together. Marcella plans to go on to medical school. Meanwhile, C. J. is busy studying and playing college basketball.
For the last few years, C.J.’s father, a Christian pastor, and his mother have provided them their home while Marcella and C.J. attend the university. As the movie opens, however, C.J. and Marcella have been living together in their own apartment, but they sleep in separate rooms because of C.J.’s conviction they should remain abstinent until they can marry. Marcella is upset, however, because C.J. is hardly ever home, and she’s beginning to doubt his commitment. She doesn’t know, though, that C.J. has been looking for a wedding ring and trying to find the right time to propose.
Marcella learns that C.J., to avoid intimate activity, has decided not to stay in the apartment anymore because of his Christian convictions. He has difficulty explaining this to Marcella, so she lashes out in anger. Shockingly, she tells C.J. that he’s probably not Faith’s father anyway.
That news puts his plans to propose on ice and sends C.J. into a funk of brooding confusion. Marcella is feeling that she’s once again being abandoned by a man, having grown up without her father, who abandoned the family 20 years ago and never returned.
Meanwhile, Marcella’s father, Javier, suddenly surfaces and tries to apologize. Marcella’s mother and brother will have none of it. However, his sudden reappearance will impact Marcella’s relationship with C.J. Will it be for better or for worse?
SENIOR YEAR: LOVE NEVER FAILS struggles in the first half to find its footing.
For example, the movie opens with Marcella and C.J. enjoying the beach together without their daughter, Faith. The next scene shows C.J. visiting a jewelry store to consider purchasing a ring. He has to rush off to Faith’s fifth year birthday party, however, so he doesn’t purchase anything. The little shopping excursion makes him late for Faith’s party. It also makes Marcella angry. She becomes even more angry when C.J.’s birthday gift is a little basketball. Faith loves to play basketball with her daddy, but Marcella thinks he should have gotten her a toy that’s more appropriate for a little girl.
This scene sets a pattern for the movie’s first half, where Marcella is perpetually angry with C.J., and C.J. seems lost and hesitant. Then, when things come to a head, and Marcella lashes out during their big argument, the drama becomes a little artificial and weird.
The drama is saved, however, by an accident that brings the three families in the movie together. The writing improves significantly, and the movie and acting end on some high notes that bring out the strong Christian themes in SENIOR YEAR. The movie’s Christian, biblical worldview promotes prayer, church, Scripture reading, preaching the Word of God, holy matrimony, love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Also, the dialogue cites the love passage in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 numerous times, not just in the ending. There is a flashback, however, to a college party where some people are drunk, and a brief surgery scene with images of blood. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger and older children for SENIOR YEAR: LOVE NEVER FAILS.