“Brave the Dark” is about a high school kid, so depraved, so lost in the vulgarities of the world, that he wears a leather jacket. And anyone who has ever watched “Grease” or “Happy Days” knows that a leather jacket means nothing but trouble.

But don’t worry, by the end, he’s wearing a pullover sweater, so it all turns out okay.

Angel Studios’ latest based-on-a-true story romp is difficult to sit through. The beats of the story are so familiar, and its execution so milquetoast, the only thing I could entertain myself with was to poke fun at the movie—which I didn’t want to do because it really is very sincere, and by all accounts, the real people the film is based on are worth celebrating. 

Faith-based films are having a moment. The industry is no longer reliant on breakthroughs to be good enough; it is consistently producing films with solid artistic merit. “Brave the Dark” feels like a flashback to a decade ago and the parade of groaners the industry consistently produced. 

The movie is about Mr. Dean, a teacher whose superpowers are knowing everyone of relevance to the plot and being constantly encouraging. When Nathan Williams, the aforementioned leather-jacket wearer, is arrested, Mr. Dean jumps into action. We discover that Nathan has been homeless since leaving the foster home and orphanage, and is hiding a dark secret about his father and mother’s death.

Mr. Dean helps get him out on bail, and allows him to live with him as long as he goes back to school. Tina, Nathan’s girlfriend, has been told to not hang out with him anymore by her dad, and this makes Nathan so angry he keeps having outbursts. Mr. Dean struggles with Nathan because of how ungrateful he is.

Mr. Dean is played by Jared Harris, known for his character work in prestige dramas like “Mad Men,” “The Crown,” or most impressively in “Chernobyl.” And Harris does a standout job with the lead character, a stilted awkward man. The only tropes the movie avoids are the savior tropes, and it’s largely because of the conflicting motivations Harris finds for his character. But Harris simply doesn’t have the screen magnetism to overcome having that awkward character as the lead.

But there’s no one else in the ensemble who has the acting chops to convincingly hold the story together, either. The actors who play the teen characters all come across as flat, whose idea of high school seems to have come from watching “Saved by the Bell.”

The story, about how the power of compassion, commitment, determination, and the reality of change, is a worthy story to tell. And in its cloying way the film did warm a cockle or two in my heart. But I do worry that the oversimplified tale may not ultimately be teaching the lesson about change I’d hope. Ultimately when the plot gets to the point Nathan is finally ready to make a real change, it jumps ahead a year avoiding showing us any of the actual progress.

The film is rated PG-13. It deals with suicide and domestic violence, and the decision for the main characters to curse at each other is prominent. But the movie’s moral center is never in question. I would hesitate to show this movie to my kids mostly because I’d worry they might conclude its moral is too cheesy to take seriously. 

If I did show it to them, I think I would ask about how the things that hurt us in our past can affect our decisions, and how the Savior can help us overcome them. I would ask about Mr. Dean and how we build relationships with others, and how they might treat someone like Nathan if they met them in school. 

One and a half out of five stars. “Brave the Dark” was released in theaters nationwide on January 24, 2024.