Director: Rich Christiano
Cast: David A. R. White, Blaine Pickett, Lance Zitron, Denise Weatherly

Several weeks ago, I read an interesting statement on the Internet. The statement was made by Stephen Humphrey Bogart, who was the real-life son of the golden age movie star Humphrey Bogart of Casablanca fame. He was lamenting on how his famous father was now thought of in this modern age - or rather, lack of thought. He pointed out that while his father and his father's movies had a huge number of young adult followers in the 1960s and 1970s, today almost no young adults had any knowledge of Humphrey Bogart or the movies he appeared in. Kind of a sad statement, but it's even sadder when you realize today that hardly any movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood are known by youths or young adults in this day and age. Can you think of a long list of classic films that a substantial number of youths or young adults know about? Well, there is The Wizard Of Oz, there's possibly Universal horror movies like Dracula and Frankenstein, and there are Disney animated movies like Snow White and Pinocchio, but beyond those obvious choices, I think you'd be hard pressed to come up with a long list of classic films known by those young ones. Oh, wait, I have just come up with another one - the 1946 Frank Capra movie It's A Wonderful Life. Under normal circumstances, that movie would likely have joined Capra's It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington as being pretty unknown by today's young adults. But thanks to it (temporarily) slipping into the public domain several decades ago, TV stations got into the practice of rerunning it on TV again and again, since they didn't at the time have to pay any royalties. And while the movie today is back in copyright, those aforementioned endless royalty-free broadcasts slowly made the movie well known in the public - and not just young adults.

Of course, the huge cult surrounding It's A Wonderful Life wouldn't have existed despite those repeated broadcasts had the movie not struck a chord with people of all ages all around the world. So what it this chord that makes this movie so popular to this very day? Well, I think it comes for several reasons. One being that it's considered a Christmas movie - if you make a Christmas movie, you have an excellent chance of having your movie pop up on TV at least once a year, since many people have a penchant for Christmas movies during Christmas. The second is that the Jimmy Stewart character comes across as an everyman, someone more identifiable than your typical movie hero. The third is that there is the heartwarming message that just about every person matters to other people, an appealing thing to ponder. It's no wonder that the movie is popular with audiences today despite its flaws. (The flaws include the suggestion that a person's presence can dictate if someone needs to wear glasses, the fact that George Bailey is so stupid that he can't comprehend he's encountering completely different people in a different dimension one encounter after another, and the fact that Mr. Potter never gets punished at the end of the movie - the latter a flaw a co-worker of mine admitted he noticed when he recently told me he watched the movie for the first time.) With the popularity of the movie, it isn't a surprise that over the years there have been a number of parodies and rip-offs of its core premise of an angel showing a dejected someone what life would be like without him/her. Among them are the James Belushi movie Mr. Destiny, the last episode of the original run of Dallas, an episode of an ABC Afterschool Special back in the 1980s, and a Christmas episode of the raunchy sitcom Married... With Children.

There have been a lot more "inspirations" and rip-offs of the It's A Wonderful Life formula for decades, and in multiple countries. I'm kind of surprised that the estate of Philip Van Doren Stern, who wrote the original short story that the original movie was based on, hasn't filed multiple lawsuits. Anyway, since there have been so many imitations of It's A Wonderful Life, I haven't bothered to watch too many of them, mainly because they almost all have the same predictable end. That's what Second Glance promised to have as well with its take on the original movie, but there was something advertised about the movie that made it sound nutty enough for me to give it a chance. And that is the fact that Second Glance was a Christian production, made for Christian audiences, and probably also to potential converts. Now, I know that It's A Wonderful Life does have some Christian elements, but I was curious to see what a full-blown Christian perspective on the classic theme would be like... even with the knowledge that (let's face it) virtually all Christian movies are terrible. The main reason why they are terrible is that they are so focused on delivering wholesome messages, that things like engaging plots and characters - as well as entertaining stuff like foul language, nudity, sex, violence, and bloodshed - simply don't have a chance to appear. It also doesn't help that the production values of these films are generally poor or very undernourished. But this particular Christian movie was only 50 minutes long, so possibly the short running length would make it less painful than the usual Christian movie.

In Second Glance, the George Bailey character is a teenager named Dan Burgess (David A. R. White, God's Not Dead). In the opening scene, he is seen sleeping in bed in the morning. His mischievous younger sister Jenny (Mandy Posey) sneaks into his bedroom while only wearing a long nightshirt (no comment), and adjusts the volume of Dan's clock radio before sneaking out again. A few seconds later, the clock radio blares a normal volume of noise, though this somehow jolts Dan enough to tumble out of bed, and then "shout" at his sister in a normal volume. I guess Christians can't get pissed off too much.

At the breakfast table, Dan sits down with his parents and Jenny. There is some lame and unsavage banter between Dan and Jenny regarding the clock radio that doesn't in any way resemble the dynamics between real siblings at their ages. Dan's parents note that Dan was up late last night helping a "friend" study for an English exam that day. Jenny gleefully points out it was a girl named Tamara, provoking further G-rated teasing. When Dan's parents question how things are going between Dan and Tamara, Dan complains that everyone, including Tamara, just consider him "a nice guy". Dan's father gives Dan the token consolation that he'll meet "the right one" one day.

Dan drives off to school in the lone car outside of his house - what, were his parents practicing the modern-day "work at home" practice? As he drives to school, the credits unfold, and we see that somehow this 50-minute production needed four screenwriters. At school, Dan meets with his friend Ricky (Skip Steward), who is eager to know how things went with Tamara, and Dan tells the truth that nothing happened. As the two go into the school, the school jock, a guy named Doug (Lance Zitron, whose real-life teenage years were obviously far behind him) yells from the side if he can cheat off Dan during the test today. Dan's negative response just provokes more mocking from Doug. Inside the school, Dan laments to Ricky, "I mean, I don't understand it, [Doug] mocks God, yet gets all the girls. He's got a great car; everyone bows down to him. He's got it all." Ricky responds simply, "No man, Doug's got nothing if you don't have the Lord," and then implies that as Christians, they have to keep reaching out to Doug.

Somehow this does not cheer up the Christian Dan, and the two go their separate ways. At his locker, Dan is approached by Tamara (Denise Weatherly), who thanks him for helping her study the previous night for the test. As Dan then tries to ask Tamara if she'd like to meet up with him later, the two are interrupted by the reappearance of Doug, and a buddy of Doug. Doug asks Tamara if she is going to a party tomorrow night at someone's house, When Dan is asked if he's going and responds in the negative, Doug's mockingly asks Dan if his mommy won't let him out at night. Doug himself quips that Dan must have plans to go to a "big church hayride" before walking away with Tamara and his jock friend. In case you are wondering, Tamara didn't seem at all upset about the mocking of Dan, and was clearly under the charm of Doug. Which brings up the question: Why is Dan attracted in the first place to a girl in his school who is such an utter b*tch? No answer is ever given. Geeze, even I had more sense at Dan's age when it came to judging girls.

In fairness, when school teacher Mr. Milner (David Allen) then comes to support Dan, Dan says that Tamara is "special". Well, that isn't all that much more helpful. Several scenes pass from this point, showing Dan near-stalking Tamara while being oblivious nice girl Vickie (Crystal Smith) studying next to him, and Dan giving a short lecture about what true love really is when a big student named "Bull" (Jim Whitehead) gets jealous when Ricky starts talking to Bull's girlfriend Melanie (Andrea Darnell). By the way, Whitehead's clunky and thuggish acting style, plus the names "Bull" and "Melanie", make me wonder if the makers of this movie were trying to replicate the (now seen as disturbing) couple of "Moose" and "Midge" from the Archie comic books. This leads to the big scene where Dan, with the encouragement of Ricky, decides to ask Tamara out. She happens to be in front of a big Pepsi vending machine when Dan approaches her, and director Rich Christiano makes sure the machine is clearly seen when the two are talking face to face. I'm sure you guessed what happens - when the somewhat stammering approaches the subject of a get-together with Tamara, Tamara doesn't hold back: "Listen Dan, we're good friends, right? Well, I would want anything to ruin our friendship. I mean, you're a real nice guy. Some girl is gonna be really lucky to get you." She then walks away. Buuuuurrrrrnnn, dude!

If you think that's bad, things soon get worse for Dan. At Mr. Miler's English class test, Dan is working hard on his test when Doug and his friends try to throw a note to Tamara that has the answers to the test. How they got the answers to the test is never explained, but anyway, when they throw the note, it lands next to Dan, who stupidly picks it up and... yup, Mr. Milner catches Dan, and sends him to the principal while expressing disappointment for thinking Dan was much better than all the other students. And that night at home, while Dan tries to explain to his angry father, Dan spews a long complaint basically how all the other kids at school are having a much better time than him. "I'm missing all the fun!" he says. "No, you're missing all the sin!" responds his father. That doesn't do much for Dan, but his father says they'll talk about the matter more in the morning.

Dan lies on his bed, leafing his Bible in his hands, and soon after laments out loud, "I wish I was never a believer!" Normally that would bring the sound of a thunderbolt and a flash of lightning, but instead we get some light tubular bells on the soundtrack, which continue when Dan subsequently sleeps and... gasp... his window shutters open up! The next morning, Dan wakes up, and is surprised to find himself wearing a style of clothes (including a cap) that he normally doesn't wear. He is then shocked to see a huge poster of someone I guess is supposed to be a heavy metal musician, but it's a drawing and not a photograph... probably so that no real heavy metal musician would irk at being showcased in a Christian movie. When he enters the kitchen, he finds it deserted, save for empty pizza boxes and other garbage strewn around, along with a strange note from his mother that says she had to take his car to work. Somehow, Dan still stupidly doesn't think anything is wrong, and goes outside to drop off the garbage. Then he hears a mysterious someone say in a smug voice, "Hello, Dan." The stranger smugly identifies himself as "Muriel" (Blaine Pickett), and smugly tells Dan, "I am here to talk with you about your prayer... Your prayer has been answered. Today you're a man of the world!"

Of course, it's obvious to anyone watching what the smug Muriel really is - an angel - even though Dan is at this point too dim-witted to figure that out. But getting back to Muriel, he is portrayed in a human form, which is okay, because the Bible does say that some angels come across in a human form, like the ones that visited Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah.. But I am tired of always seeing angels in this form - the Bible says that angels come in other forms as well. The prophet Isaiah, for one thing, mentions in Isaiah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 that angels have six wings, two to cover their feet and two in order to fly, and are associated with fire and purification. And Ezekiel's vision in the Bible (Ezekiel 1:5-14) stated he saw an angel having four faces, of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. The angel also had four wings, straight legs with hooves that sparkle like burnished bronze, and human hands under their wings. Ezekiel also said in Ezekiel 1:15-21 that he saw an angel as a, "wheel within a wheel", with the rims of the wheels all covered with eyes. Why didn't Dan get to see an angel like any of those? Oh, wait, I just remembered - this is a Christian movie with a typical rock-bottom budget.

Sorry, let's get back to the movie. Dan and Muriel's conversation is interrupted by Doug honking the horn of his jeep at the edge of the property. Muriel explains that Doug and his cronies are now Dan's new friends. After being told that Muriel can't be seen or heard by others (well, that's at least one difference with this angel than with the angel Clarence in It's A Wonderful Life), Dan gets a ride to school with Doug, and at school, arrangements are made for a party in the evening. Tamara then comes and acts like an utter b*tch as usual, but in seconds Dan is clued in to the fact that she is now his girlfriend, and starts to enjoy the touchy-feeling attitude she has with him in classes... though he seems to feel a little something strange when he sees Vickie across the room totally ignoring him. Then in his next class, not seeing Ricky around, he asks a student where Ricky is. The student is amazed to see that Dan didn't remember that Bull after school the previous day beat up Ricky for talking to Melanie, and put Ricky in the hospital. (Sadly, no one seems surprised that instead of being arrested, Bull was just suspended by the school administration for two weeks.) Afterwards, when Dan enters a classroom for his regular Federation of Christian Athletes meeting, and finds an irate teacher holding a sewing class in the room, Dan is even more confused.

Outside the classroom, Dan bumps into the smug Muriel again. "There is no FCA" Muriel smugly says, explaining that Dan's former self was responsible for starting the group in the first place. Before we can question why Dan was still interested in this Christian group when he wished to not be a Christian just hours earlier, a teacher comes by and quickly shoos Dan to his next class - English. But while Dan is happy to get perfect results from his test the previous day (read: by cheating), he is confused by the absence of Mr. Milner. Doug then is confused that he has to tell Dan that Mr. Milner quit the school three months earlier after being driven crazy by all the unruly students at school. Dan is even more confused when after class, Melanie walks up to him and asks for him to meet with her after school for some reason. And then after school at the local malt shop, Dan, while hanging out with his new gang, is shocked to find out that he's simultaneously dating Tamara and Melanie while keeping each of them oblivious to the fact! Dan's confusion then goes through the roof when he sees that Mr. Milner is now a waiter at the malt shop. I don't know about you, but I am glad I never had Milner's career advisor when I was looking for a job.

Dan gets home, and is surprised to see a fancy and expensive car in the driveway. His mother comes out of the house, with enough makeup and dress on to be the wh*re of Babylon. She thanks Dan for letting her borrow his car, and then she is picked up for a date by a guy named Wes. She seems confused when Dan askes her the whereabouts of his father and Jenny, but quickly leaves. The smug Muriel then appears, explaining to the shocked Dan that Dan was able to afford his car by gambling on football games! As for the whereabouts of dad and Jenny, Muriel smugly says, "Your folks have been divorced for several years. You see, it was your prayers that held your folks together when they were going through the tough times." Needless to say, those tough times are why they never apparently boinked enough to make a sister for Dan. But think about what else was said just then - this movie is saying, contrary to what many child psychologists and child advocates have said for decades, that if your parents divorce, it's your fault. I don't know about you, but that doesn't exactly sound like a loving Christian message, let along one that would ease the concerns of any child or teen with feuding parents. Come to think about it, there's also something else disturbing about what Muriel said - is he saying that the love between two people depends on a third wheel to ensure it will last? (If you can be allowed to call God a "third wheel".)

Anyway, Dan isn't phased all that much by Muriel's explanation of the present situation. "I'm respected, I'm popular!" he states to Muriel. He then gets ready for the big party that night. The party turns out to be a packed house, but if you are thinking that the shenanigans involve people jumping in pools, destroying furniture, or reserving bedrooms in the house, you will sadly be disappointed - it just consists of people standing around talking while with cans of (gasp) beer in their hands. Dan enjoys himself for a while, but you probably guessed that not only do Tamara and Melanie bump into each other, but do so right in front of poor Dan. As expected, sparks start flying between the two for Dan's affections, and then Melanie lays down a bombshell: "I am pregnant with Dan's baby, and we are going to get married!"

Looking into the camera while it zooms quickly into his face, Dan screams, "AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Just kidding - while that would be a perfect touch, the two women then both storm off in opposite directions while the utterly stunned Dan has to sort out the situation. As it turns out, when he talks to Melanie, she discovers she actually isn't pregnant - it was a lie so she can have Dan all to herself. Then he finds the p*ssed-off Tamara, and while trying to patch up things, he discovers that she never really thought much of him, and certainly didn't start dating him because he was "a nice guy". Geeze, Dan can't get a break with this woman. For that matter, neither with Melanie. As Dan is dragged back inside to the party with his friends assuring him, "Women are like buses, one comes along every ten minutes," Melanie calls Bull to give him the scoop as to what has been happening. While this is going on, Dan remembers he had an appointment to counsel a fellow student named Scotty that day, and goes to Scotty's sister to apologize for missing the appointment with her brother. Then Scotty's sister gets pissed off, and it doesn't take too long for Dan to learn than Scotty committed suicide three months earlier. Why? No clues at all here or earlier in the movie - at least the aforementioned ABC Afterschool Special indicated with enough detail why the death of one character in its fantasy was basically a suicide. As soon as Dan learns about Scotty's death, Bull suddenly arrives at the party (apparently Bull's parents didn't think of grounding him for beating up a peer brutally enough to put him in the hospital, or getting suspended from school for two weeks for that matter), and all hell breaks loose, with Dan fleeing on foot from the premises of the party with the angry Bull in hot pursuit and with the goal to do Dan some serious harm.

There's about ten more minutes to follow, but I won't reveal what happens, one reason being that since this is a Christian film, you can probably guess how things are tied up at the end. Another reason is that there is a short but quite deranged conversation between two characters that simply must be personally seen and heard to be believed, so I won't spoil it here. Anyway, even with saying that, I am pretty sure that by now you see how utterly ridiculous Second Glance is. While it isn't as insane as some Christian films like If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?, I think the majority of non-Christians will find it goofy enough to make it well worth a viewing if they are in the mood for some unintended laughs, and even many Christian viewers will admit that the movie is extremely silly at times. Still, I admit there are parts of the movie do have some sincerity to them. Actor David A. R. White in the lead role doesn't come across as especially annoying or unlikeable, for one thing, and acts adequately. And while technically the movie is kind of cheap and shoddy, director Rich Christiano (who has made a career with making Christian movies) does avoid messages being too heavy-handed for the most part, with the movie's messages lean more towards being a generally good person and doing unto others than things with a direct Christian/Bible message, and also admitting that being a Christian youth isn't always an easy life, so this movie's good intentions will be more accepted by your average viewer than a Christian movie with a more religious tone. But there is one thing I am puzzled about with Christiano's movie, however. That is, for a Christian movie, it goes against the Bible in one big aspect - the whole cloning of the It's A Wonderful Life plotline; it could be considered going against the eighth commandment, which if you recall, states, "Thou shalt not steal."

(Posted March 24, 2026)