The Shack

Somewhere in the imagination of a hopeless romantic the germ of an idea forms. Be nice. Be nice to nasty people. Be nice and mean it. Pretending doesn't fool The One and Only, or The Only and One, or any other religious deity. They know; they are all seeing. In the world of hope and love man is the servant of good.

"God cares because Momma cares," the little girl is told.

Really? When the perfect family go off on a camping holiday the little girl disappears. Kidnapped? Probably. Killed? Maybe. Dad (Sam Worthington) can't rest. He must know; he must find her. She is/was too beautiful to become a statistic in the pedophile register of lost children.

He goes back into the forest and discovers a house where the nicest people you never want to meet live in harmony. There are three of them and they radiate The Light like characters from a Jehovah's Witness peace-on-earth party.

Dad is full of rage and anger. They say, "Chill." Actually they don't. They say whatever you do is right, be mindful, be nice, blah-de-sweet-sweet-blah.

By this time the New Age vibe has boiled your brain. You melt into a puddle of molten marshmallow. You can't make a run for it. Your legs are soup. You can't scream. Dissent has been erased from what used to be called your critical faculties. You have become... nice.

The message liquidates negativity. Evil will be conquered by forgiveness and bad guys will become good again. As Christian propaganda The Shack lacks subtlety and poise. Certainly it lacks humour. Anything else? Everything else.

You don't have to be an atheist to hate this film, but it helps.