Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation

Jennifer Grey is fine (the two star rating from me), but this film is nothing more than a lame paint-by-numbers coverage of the events, and not entirely accurate. I fully expect a limited series on one of the streamers in the future. This story is too good. LOTS of interesting details not covered in this basic TV movie. And yes, this version is EXACTLY what you'd expect from Lifetime. The guy playing her second husband is totally miscast. Very cartoonish. The real-life Gwen Shamblin WAS, herself, cartoonish, and this film plays down her outlandish personality. This was filmed in Montreal (!), but it does feel like Tennessee. I know Franklin, so that aspect is fine. However, Lifetime is cheap, and films most of their junk in Canada, like the awful Hallmark Channel.

Jennifer Grey deserves an Oscar for this. I'm not kidding. She was so genuinely good. Her hair also deserves some sort of award. The hair was giving. It grew. She grew. But the real life hair was higher than depicted. Think about that. This was not an exaggeration. It was underplayed. Google it. I don't know the whole story I came strictly to comment on hair. I also am watching a lot of old school lifetime movies. I think this is one for the books. It's no Cheerleader murder mystery but I think it's for potential to go down on the books. I loved it enough to write a 600 word review. Also the real lady is a monster. Duh.

Like previous reviewers, I had never heard of Gwen Shamblin. The story itself was mildly interesting, but that's it. The acting, with the exception of Jennifer Grey, was atrocious. The sets looked like they had been built in someone's garage, and the script was choppy and amateurish. The wide-eyed parishioners behaved like brainwashed Moonies who hung on to her every word. Just like Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton, Ted Haggart, Jimmy Swaggart, and other "Christian" leaders, Gwen became money-hungry and obsessed with her church. She believed herself to be above her own rules, and believed that she was specially chosen by God. This is an old story, told and retold many times --- only the names are different. **yawn**. Don't waste your time with this one. Do something more interesting, like watching your grass grow or wallpapering the bathroom. You will thank me.

The real story of Gwen Shamblin is far more fascinating and bizarre than this semi-factionalized account. Some 15 years ago, I paid $110 to participate in a Weigh Down Workshop. Each week we had discussion, created a prayer list of joys and concerns, prayed and then watched a video. Included were a workbook and a dozen or so audiotapes for our homework. The videos featured Shamblin speaking from various places in the Holy Land about how the program came to be and her philosophy on weight loss. She looked quite normal and wore stunning designer clothes. Her hair was unremarkable. Her advice was simple: eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. No foods are off limits. It's brilliant because it works BUT retraining yourself can be a hurdle and, for women with families that expect three squares a day, the program can be difficult when Mom isn't hungry at dinner time and doesn't eat with the others. Shamblin makes a good argument linking this retraining process (listening to your body, identifying triggers to overeating and revamping your relationship with food) to the Biblical story of the Jews escaping slavery in Egypt and their unnecessarily long journey to the promised land. Weigh Down was an excellent Bible study that happened to parallel our journey from slavery to unhealthy habits (not just food-related) to our better selves and a better relationship with God. Either prong of the program could easily operate on its own. We learned through the videos about Shamblin's life with her family and it all seemed perfectly normal; just a regular gal who hit the jackpot with a great and highly marketable idea. Then, several years after the workshop I attended, we began hearing news of Shamblin's transformation into wacko megalomaniac evangelist with hair to match. She was implicated in a child's death as her nutso beliefs and dangerous preaching were revealed. She married Tarzan, several years her junior and lived the moneyed high life that included a private plane, which proved to be her downfall-literally. This movie simply doesn't capture the entire story or explain her ever increasing corrupt religious leader transformation. Or the hair. The story is fascinating, train wreck mesmerizing, especially to those who attended a workshop and knew of her seemingly normal past life. Someone recommended an HBO documentary, which I will check out. I rated five stars for Jennifer Gray's performance. Finally, that nose job paid off.

I would give 0 stars if possible. Jennifer Grey did a great job but this is not the true story. If you want a more accurate account watch the HBO MAX documentary, The Way Down. My husband was the lead investigator on the Smith case and Gwen was never interviewed by the police, not for lack of trying. She refused to speak with the police and left the church during the search warrant (which is not shown in this version). The smith tape was recorded during a church session, when the Smith's called live into the service. It wasn't a private phone call with Gwen and the time lines are out of sequence. The Smith's were members of this church via the internet from Atlanta. They also do not go into the Smith case at all, which was for the murder of their son. This portrayal was very Hollywood and overdramatized.

As Jennifer Grey had said, I too never knew anything about this church and Shamblin. I remember hearing about the plane crash and noticing that man that played Tarzan. So I looked in to it and went down a rabbit hole a bit, I was really looking forward to this movie coming out as I knew Jennifer Grey would nail the character and she did to a T. I learned a lot more about the story of Shamblin and what she had created with the church and her following. It took more than praying to be thin that's for sure. Very interesting story, that keeps getting more and more interesting. The acting was amazing in this, definitely worth watching!

I have to admit that I had never heard of Gwen Shamblin before. I've seen various interviews by Jennifer Grey about this movie and that piqued my interest. I googled Gwen Shamblin and her lifestory is very interesting and at the same time it is frightening how seemingly easily she became a questionable prophetess. I am fascinated of Jennifer Grey and her way of portraying Gwen Shamblin. 10 points for Jennifer! The way in which Gwen Shamblin seems to have lost her own self more and more without noticing it is implemented very well in the film (of course also by the great leading actress). I think I will watch this movie once again. It's very interesting from the first minute til the end.

I would give 0 stars if possible. Jennifer Grey did a great job but this is not the true story. If you want a more accurate account watch the HBO MAX documentary, The Way Down. My husband was the lead investigator on the Smith case and Gwen was never interviewed by the police, not for lack of trying. She refused to speak with the police and left the church during the search warrant (which is not shown in this version). The smith tape was recorded during a church session, when the Smith's called live into the service. It wasn't a private phone call with Gwen and the time lines are out of sequence. The Smith's were members of this church via the internet from Atlanta. They also do not go into the Smith case at all, which was for the murder of their son. This portrayal was very Hollywood and overdramatized.