April 2026
I Can Only Imagine 2 (PG)
03/04/26 22:42 Filed in: 2026
Starring: John Michael Finley
February 2026
Warning! This is NOT a movie review. This is a critique of the film. Intended to initiate a dialogue, the following analysis explores various aspects of the film and may contain spoilers. For concerns over objectionable content, please first refer to one of the many parental movie guide websites. Ratings are based on a four star system. Happy reading!
I must admit, I was skeptical when I first learned there would be a sequel to I Can Only Imagine (2018). First, how could directors Andrew Erwin and Brent Mccorkle improve on the original movie—easily one of the Top 5 Christian movies ever made? Second, with Bart Millard’s (John Michael Finley) back story and initiation into stardom established in the first film, how could a sequel about a band going on tour after winning a trophy case full of awards for the titular song sustain audience interest for two hours? Or, maybe I was just fretful that the sequel wouldn’t live up to the original, a rational apprehension considering Hollywood’s track record.
I’m glad I was wrong about Imagine 2. It’s one of those rare instances where the sequel is a worthy follow-up to the original.
Early in the film, Bart receives a frantic call from his wife while he’s on the road. Rushing to the hospital, Bart learns that his young son, Sam (Jagger Amor), has diabetes and will need to take insulin shots the rest of his life. At first, Bart, who was physically abused by his father, Arthur (Dennis Quaid), can’t bring himself to stick a shot into Sam’s stomach. But when he sees another couple lose their son with the same condition as Sam’s, Bart quickly gets over his reticence of jabbing his son with life-sustaining medicine.
A decade later, Sam (Sammy Dell) is a teenage boy, who, like most teenage boys, is wrapped up in his own world—and consistently forgets to take his medication. This creates resentment between Bart, who’s trying to be a loving but firm parent, and Sam, who wants the freedom to pursue his dream of being a musician. Bart tells his wife he’s the wrong father for Sam; his feelings of inadequacy stem from a deep-rooted fear that he’ll become like his father.
Scott Brickell (Trace Adkins), the manager of Bart’s group, MercyMe, has a wild idea—bring Sam on the road for the upcoming tour. Though the radical decision creates plenty of drama and a near-tragic moment, it allows Bart and Sam to connect in new and unexpected ways.
Also joining the tour as the concert opener is Tim Timmons (Milo Ventimiglia), who fills the role of “new guy” in the group (a long-standing war movie trope). The band’s initiation of the newcomer, when Tim uses the bathroom on the bus, is uproariously funny.
Initially, there’s competitive friction between Bart and Tim, which serves as a protagonist/antagonist dynamic in a movie without a true villain. But Bart’s attitude toward Tim radically changes when Tim reveals he has a rare illness. Tim, who just wants to reach people with his songs, asks Bart to complete a lyric he’s stuck on. When finished, Bart and Tim’s song, “Even If,” becomes one of MercyMe’s biggest hits.
As the band’s outsiders, Tim and Sam quickly develop a rapport. The unlikely pair are kindred spirits—they both play guitar, they both love music, and they both have serious health conditions. Early in the tour, Tim asks Sam to play guitar for his opening set, which brings Sam one step closer to his dream.
One of the movie’s main themes is grief vs. gratitude. Tim makes an X (also the symbol for the cross) with a Sharpie on his wrist every morning as a reminder of his gratitude for another day of life. It’s a beautiful symbol that recurs throughout the movie. Tim is fixated on the tragic story of Horatio G. Spafford, who wrote the traditional hymn, “It Is Well with My Soul.” It’s a message Bart needs to be reminded of as he’s still haunted by his traumatic childhood.
In a heartwarming flashback, Bart helps Arthur move some chairs found along the roadside out of his father’s pickup truck. Later that night, while sitting in the “new” chairs around a campfire, Arthur tells Bart he’s proud of him. This is the first of two father/son reconciliation scenes.
There’s another campfire scene under a bridge after the tour bus breaks down. During the light-hearted conversation, Sam reveals what he fears most in life—needles. It’s a sobering reminder of the teen’s daily battle for his health.
Setup: in a meaningful father/son scene in a café, where Bart and Sam play a game of 20 Questions, Bart learns that Sam has never seen a shooting star.
Payoff: in a later scene, as father and son spend some quality time on top of the broken-down bus, a shooting star streams across the expansive night sky.
There are many such emotional high points in the movie, like when Bart gives his son Arthur’s guitar, when Sam fills in for an ailing Tim during sound check and crushes it, or when Bart visits Tim in the hospital as a thunderstorm rages in the distance—symbolic of the internal storms both men are facing.
Fittingly, the movie’s climax is the final concert of MercyMe’s tour at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado. Bart calls an audible and concludes the concert with “Even If.” He asks Sam to accompany them on guitar. After the song, Bart hugs Sam on stage; it’s a touching culmination of the father/son storyline.
Unfortunately, what should’ve been a satisfying ending is ruined by the final scene of the movie; Bart and his wife sneak onto the bus, presumably to do what married couples do. It’s a strange ending to an otherwise moving and inspirational movie.
So, in a few years, when Sam has a child who becomes a professional singer, I guess we can look forward to I Can Only Imagine 3.
Rating: 3 out of 4
Solo Mio (PG)
01/04/26 21:57 Filed in: 2026
Starring: Kevin James
February 2026
Warning! This is NOT a movie review. This is a critique of the film. Intended to initiate a dialogue, the following analysis explores various aspects of the film and may contain spoilers. For concerns over objectionable content, please first refer to one of the many parental movie guide websites. Ratings are based on a four star system. Happy reading!
Man is left at the altar.
Man meets a new group of friends who help him grieve and heal.
Man finds a new woman.
Man falls in love with the woman and lives happily ever after.
Okay, so the storyline to Angel Studio’s new movie, Solo Mio, isn’t quite that simplistic. And yet, there isn’t anything revolutionary about this standard romance movie either.
Kevin James (The King of Queens) plays Matthew Taylor, a likeable 50-something art teacher who proposes to Heather (Julie Ann Emery). She says yes, and now the couple is in Rome for their wedding and honeymoon. Then comes Heather’s no-show at the wedding and Matthew’s discovery of the note she leaves for him.
With a stiff upper lip, Matthew tries to recover from his heartache by embarking on day trips for honeymooning couples; they’re pre-paid and non-refundable, so why not take advantage of them? Overcoming the embarrassment of riding by himself on a tandem bike, Mike is befriended by two couples: Jules (Kim Coates) and Meghan (Alyson Hannigan), and Neil (Jonathan Roumie) and Donna (Julee Cerda). These couples attempt to console Matthew during his period of grief, often providing comic relief when their well-meaning advice ends up creating more drama and ridiculous situations.
Just days after being jilted by his fiancée, Matthew meets café manager Gia (Nicole Grimaudo); Jules and Neil encourage him to explore the potential new relationship. You’d think Donna, a professional therapist, would be a voice of reason and at least recommend that Matthew take things slow during the recovery process. Nope. The movie doesn’t engage in that kind of common sense…or common decency.
Aside from a minor twist involving the note Heather leaves in the church before she bails, the rest of the plot is paint-by-numbers predictable.
Directed by Charles Kinnane and Daniel Kinnane, Solo Mio is a disappointment for several reasons. With well-known comedians like James and Hannigan in the cast, you’d expect the movie to be funnier than it is. Though Coates and Roumie (Jesus in The Chosen) deliver a few humorous lines, this film doesn’t even remotely resemble the riotous romcom presented in the trailer.
Up until now, Angel Studios has produced faith-affirming and family-friendly films. Solo Mio, with its pervasive alcohol consumption, a promiscuous woman at a nightclub, Matthew dancing with his imaginary fiancée in his underwear, and handful of profanities, is quite a departure from the squeaky-clean fare typically associated with the studio. Viewer beware.
Though contrived to the point of absurdity, the cameo by Andrea Bocelli (who sings a few songs in the movie) is a decided boon to the story. After all, what’s more quintessentially Italian than Bocelli?
But this stunt casting reveals the movie’s Achilles’ heel. Aside from its schmaltzy subplots (pretty much every scene involving the bike tour); the unbelievable, instant romance between Matthew and Gia; and the gimmicky twist involving the composition of the breakup note, the worst aspect of the movie is the way every problem is resolved with crowd-pleasing convenience. Writers Patrick Kinnane, John Kinnane and James have delivered a bevy of romance film tropes, but haven’t posited a single new thought or forwarded the genre in any significant way. The film resolves much too quickly and the new equilibrium for the characters at the end is an egregious farce—Matthew will leave his job and his country to live with a woman he just met?
But all is not lost. James delivers a believable performance and the supporting cast is solid. The movie’s saving grace is its foreign locations; the villas and vistas shot in and around Rome. But without its foreign flair, would the movie even be half as good as it is? Or half as memorable?
In the end, this movie isn’t nearly as funny or romantic as it should’ve been. Much like the woman who leaves poor Matthew at the altar, Solo Mio is an underachieving mess.
Rating: 2 out of 4