Review: With empathy, Jessica Chastain plays Tammy Faye Bakker

In this conventional, soup to nuts biopic that's based on a documentary, director Michael Showalter and screenwriter Abe Sylvia go out of their way to make Tammy sympathetic.

It makes sense then that in this moment when we are reevaluating some of the women we so carelessly ridiculed for their appearances and supporting roles in the scandals of men that Tammy Faye would get another look as well. In the aptly titled " The Eyes of Tammy Faye," the camera, and star and producer Jessica Chastain, dare us to consider what’s underneath.

The makeup is never explained or outwardly mocked by the filmmakers, but it is a focal point from the first frame as an unseen woman tries to wipe Tammy's face clean and start fresh only to realize that most of it is permanent. In Chastain’s portrayal of Tammy from her college years through her early 60s, the layers just gradually pile on. When she first meets Jim Bakker (played with admirable restraint and just enough smarm by Andrew Garfield), she is downright fresh faced.