Release Date: December 14, 2010
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 91 minutes

Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Sigourney Weaver stars in PRAYERS FOR BOBBY, a captivating and emotional true story about a deeply religious suburban housewife and mother who struggles to accept her son’s homosexuality. Based on the book by Leroy Aarons, this Lifetime Original Movie premiered to nearly 4 million viewers and is a mainstay in the LGBT community.

Mary Griffith (Weaver) is a devout Christian who has raised her children with a conservative religious perspective. When her son, Bobby (Ryan Kelley), reveals that he is gay to his older brother, the entire family dynamic is forever shifted. While Bobby’s father and siblings slowly come to terms with his homosexuality, Mary turns to her steadfast beliefs in an attempt to “cure” her son. Alienated and quickly becoming more detached from the safety of his close-knit family, Bobby’s depression drives him to suicide. This tragic act causes the grief stricken Mary to question all of her views and she ultimately becomes a champion for gay rights.

Though I haven’t read the book from which this film is based on, I could clearly tell that this film was a bit rushed. There was not as much depth as I had anticipated in regards to not just Mary’s struggle accepting her son but the family’s struggle living with Mary not being able to accept her son. It seemed Bobby’s siblings and father were more accepting than Mary but the dynamic in the household before and after Bobby left home isn’t shown enough. Viewers don’t really get the full picture of the entire family dynamic. Nor is there enough time spent on Bobby’s relationship with David.

The film is much more simple than I expected. It gets to the point of telling the true story overall instead of really getting into the nitty gritty of every emotion, every struggle, etc… along the way in the story. Still, the film manages to pack quite the emotional punch. The performances were stellar! I was particularly impressed with Ryan Kelley who played Bobby and was also thrilled to see Austin Nichols from One Tree Hill play Bobby’s older brother. Though this film takes place in the 70s, the message is just as important, especially recently when so many young students have committed suicide because of their struggle in life with their sexuality. This is a very moving film that I would definitely recommend to those against homosexuality.

Bonus Features:

Behind the Scenes – Executive Producers, Daniel Sladek, Chris Taaffe, and David Permut talk about how they became involved in this project as well as meeting author, Leroy Aarons and the Griffith family before getting the rights to the film in this feature. The three also mention working with director, Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil: Extinction) and Screenwriter, Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality) on the film and what the film means to them. This feature doesn’t have as much depth as I would have liked, but because it is so short, it’s still worth watching. You’ll find something out that you didn’t know before.

Meet the Stars – Actors, Sigourney Weaver, Ryan Kelley, Henry Czerny, and Dan Butler appear in this feature as they discuss how they prepared for their roles while Executive Producers, Daniel Sladek, David Permut, and Chris Taaffe talk about casting the main roles. This is a brief but very interesting look at the actors behind the real life characters.

Meet the Real Mary Griffith – This feature is a compilation of interviews with Sigourney Weaver, the Executive Producers, and the real life Mary Griffith. Again, there’s not as much depth in the interviews as I would have expected, but it’s a heartfelt feature.

Road to the GLAAD Awards – This feature shows Sigourney Weaver and the executive producers accepting their 2010 GLAAD Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Mini Series.

Trevor Project PSA Starring Daniel Radcliffe

PFLAG PSA Starring Sigourney Weaver

Own Prayers for Bobby on DVD today.