A thoroughly misguided film, 2010’s Loving the Bad Man tells the story of Julie Thompson (Cree Kelly) and Mike Connor (Arturo Rossi).

Julie is a young woman who is so religious that she wears a Jesus Saves button to work and she agrees to let a young shoplifter off the hook on the condition that he go to church with her.  One night, Julie gets a flat tire while driving home.  Looking for help, she stumbles into a sleazy bar.  Mike Connor is a young mechanic from a broken home who just happens to be having a beer that night.  He offers to help Julie out.

Mike fixes Julie’s car but, the entire time that he’s working on it, he’s having flashbacks to an earlier physical confrontation that he had with his boss at the local garage.  Mike has issues with people looking down on him and when Julie attempts to thank Mike for his work by giving him a tip, Mike snaps.  Screaming that he’s not poor, he grabs Julie and, off-screen, he rapes her.

Mike goes to prison.  Julie gets pregnant but, despite the efforts of her family to convince her otherwise, Julie refuses to have an abortion.  While Mike is being targeted by the head of the Aryan brotherhood, Julie is giving birth.  While Mike is being tutored by the wise elder prisoner, Julie is raising her son.  After reading in the Bible that one must be willing to forgive all who have sinned against them, Julie decides that she has to forgive the bad man.

Now, there’s a lot about the first part of the film that doesn’t work.  Playing an upbeat Christian pop song over a rape kit montage is not a decision I would have made.  The fact that Julie never appears to actually be traumatized by her rape is another big problem.  The only time Julie gets angry is when her parents suggest that she not keep a child fathered by the man who raped her.  (At this point, I should perhaps note that, when it comes to abortion, I’ve never felt comfortable with the extremes of either side of the issue.  As far as this film goes, I could respect Julie’s parents’ point while also respecting Julie’s decision to keep the baby.  That was entirely due to my own personal feelings as opposed to any type of nuance on the part of the film.)  Finally, the authenticity of the film’s prison scenes are not helped by the decision to cast Stephen Baldwin (complete with obviously fake tattoos) as the head of the Aryan Brotherhood.

That said, I am a believer in forgiveness.  Many crime victims have spoken and written about the importance of being able to forgive the people who victimized them, often describing it as the first step in moving on with their lives.  However, forgiveness does not mean forgetting about what someone did or becoming that person’s best friend.  Ideally, it means letting go of the hate that was holding you back.  By forgiving those who have hurt you, you’re basically refusing to allow them to control your lives.

So, I don’t have a problem with Julie forgiving Mike.  I do have a problem with Julie continually showing up at the prison with a big smile on her face and introducing Mike to his son.  I have a problem with her baking cookies for him.  I especially have a problem with Julie eventually declaring that she’s fallen in love with Mike and telling him that meeting him was the best thing that ever happened to her because it led to the birth of her son.  I don’t care how much of a Christian she is or how into forgiveness she is, no woman is going to react like that when seeing the man who raped her.  Nor should any woman be expected to react like that, regardless of how guilty Mike feels or how many times Mike declares that he loves Julie as well. That doesn’t mean that Julie can’t forgive the bad man.  Nor does it mean that Mike can’t try to change his life while he’s in prison.  But the actions of the characters in this film make no sense.

Worst of all, the film builds up to a climax in which it appears Mike might have to sacrifice himself to protect Julie.  It is true that Jesus forgave the incarcerated.  But it’s also true that Absalom threw a feast specifically so he could have his half-brother killed after the latter raped their sister.

Forgiveness is a good message but this film’s execution is offensive.  Perhaps the only highlight is Stephen Baldwin acting like a tough guy and looking like he’s fighting the urge to laugh every time he opens his mouth.