Over the Easter break, I sat down with my family to watch the recently filmed musical “A Week Away.” The film was released to Netflix on March 26 of this year. This musical features Bailee Madison, Kevin Quinn, Kat Conner Sterling, Jahbril Cook, and others. The film is about a troubled teen, Will Hawkins (Kevin Quinn), and how he gets sent to a Christian camp for a week. There at the camp is where he finds true friends, the meaning of acceptance/repentance, and (as is shown in basically every movie these days) he falls in love with the competitive, kind girl Avery (Bailee Madison), from camp. This is of course a cheesy movie, but it delivers the perfect Christian message: You are never too far gone.

This film was very lively with many songs being performed throughout the movie, which were simple and got the message across all the while being upbeat and fun to listen to. The actors’ short, sarcastic remarks made for a lighter mood that the audience was able to appreciate. The cheesiness of the movie was pretty consistent, but the cute meaning behind it made it easier to listen to without cringing as much. The actors and actresses definitely sold their parts and made it easy to want to finish the film. A few of the songs that were performed throughout the movie were: “Let’s Go Make a Memory,” “Baby, Baby,” “Good Enough,” and my personal favorite “Awesome God/ God Only Knows.” There were other songs throughout the film, but these were the ones that really stuck out to me. The lyrics behind these gave a positive and uplifting message all the while keeping my attention.

There wasn’t really any moments in the film that I was tempted to shut it off at. Sure, the cheesiness was sometimes hard to watch, but it all worked to show the bigger message as mentioned before: No one is ever too far gone. It went to show that no matter what you have done in life, there is always God to turn to. It gave this very powerful message to people in this day and age that might feel as though there is no hope for them. (Especially with things regarding COVID). The songs and the film were encouraging people to keep going and that any past, present, and future sins can be forgiven.

Another reason why I liked this film was because there wasn’t any real tragedy that took place to make the audience cry. In this film, if the audience cried it would have been because of the powerful message. I find this refreshing because too often filmmakers feel as though in order for them to connect with the audience there needs to be a major catastrophe. In “A Week Away,” however, there wasn’t the drive for a dramatic and tragic scene. I enjoyed watching this wholesome movie.

Overall, the film “A Week Away” was very powerful and shared a great message to today’s broken society. The performance was engaging and the songs helped to keep the audience’s feet tapping. All in all, I would rate the musical “A Week Away” with a 5 out of 5 stars. So what are you waiting for? Grab a bowl of popcorn, put your feet up, and get ready to watch this uplifting film.