Eyes of Tammy Faye, The

Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato document the incredible life of Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker), from her Minnesota childhood through her marriage to televangelist Jim Bakker, their fabulous success with the PTL Club and their spectacular fall after Jim’s affair with a church secretary. Bailey and Barbato clearly adore Tammy Faye to pieces, and the film is an unabashed, frilly valentine. Their enthusiasm for their subject is surprisingly infectious; besides, any movie that portrays Jerry Falwell as a smarmy hypocrite can’t be all bad. For all her kitschy tears and chirping fortitude, Tammy Faye certainly deserves credit for surviving Jim Bakker’s misconduct, her addiction to painkillers and colon cancer—and for being a better Christian than many of her former associates.