Breakthrough                    2 ½ stars

Breakthrough is a faith based movie that came out last year that looks a lot like Lifetime movies on TV (or at least how I imagine them). The movie is about a true story of a 14 year old boy who fell through ice on a lake and was under for 15 minutes before being rescued, which makes up about the first half hour of the film. The remainder is concerned with his long recovery and how the boy’s mother stays with him and prays that God will heal him in spite of the enormous obstacle ahead of him. For the most part it was well acted featuring Chrissy Metz of This Is Us as the boy’s mother. Topher Grace is horribly miscast as the pastor of the mother and boy’s church. Grace is fine as a wiseass or a good villain, but is not who you would think of for a sympathetic pastor. Of course the nearly two hour film has an inspiring message of the power of prayer and love, but it could have been done in about thirty minutes less.