AVERAGE JOE (2024)

Here is the decision, plainly. AVERAGE JOE is a phenomenal, four-star film built on an inspiring true story — the kind of movie that stresses faith, prayer, and how God's love can heal the deepest wounds. It highlights doing the right thing no matter the cost, and it does so with a creative, engaging style and a standout lead performance. If your family loves a story of redemption and religious liberty, this one will feed you.

The single caution is honest: the film shows the harsh reality of Joseph's pain before he found God. There are scenes of child abuse and other violence. They are never excessive, and they exist only to make his redemption land harder — but they are real, and younger children may not be ready for them.

So: for teenagers and adults, go. For older children, go with a parent who can talk it through. For the youngest, wait a few years and bring them back to it.

Joseph Kennedy became famous the hard way — fired from his job as a high school football coach for kneeling to pray at center field after games.

But the movie doesn't start there. Sitting down for an interview alongside his wife, Denise, Joseph recounts his life from the beginning: a childhood marked by abandonment and abuse, a friendship with the girl next door, and a hard road that led him into the U.S. Marines. Still, he feels far from God. Then comes a choice that will shape everything that follows — and that's where we'll leave you.

Four stars, and they're earned. AVERAGE JOE is creative, well-acted, and heartfelt, telling Joseph's story in a genuinely unique way. It's shot in an interview style, with Joseph and Denise narrating their own lives, and the characters often break the fourth wall.

That device could have been a gimmick. Instead it works, striking a nice balance between the harsh reality of Joseph's life before faith and the testimony of his life afterward as a servant of God. Eric Close delivers a standout performance as Kennedy, and there are some great moments of prayer. The result is engaging, moving, and confident enough in its story to tell it sideways — and still hit every mark.

This is a film with a very strong Christian, moral worldview, and it wears that conviction openly. Prayer, church, and Scripture run all through it. So do its themes: fighting for what is right, the importance of family, faith under pressure, and a robust defense of religious liberty. Joseph's public battle over prayer at center field turns his personal testimony into a wider argument for the freedom to worship.

What gives the movie its weight, though, is what it believes about pain. It insists that God's love prevails over the deepest wounds — that abandonment, abuse, and a decade of wasted years are not the last word. Joseph's story becomes a refreshing encouragement to fight for freedom, but ultimately to see that God is the greatest good in our lives.

The film is honest about the cost of that road. It shows Joseph's difficult upbringing and his early involvement with violence realistically, but never glorifies it. Every hard scene serves the redemption, not the spectacle.

Underneath it all is a wound the movie names and then watches God heal — the ache of the abandoned child longing to be wanted. Scripture speaks directly to it: "For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in" (Psalm 27:10).

This is the rare film that tells a hard true story without flinching and still leaves you lifted. It's creative, superbly acted, and unashamed of the gospel that carries it. The abuse and war scenes are real but never excessive — enough that we'd say worth the trip — ages 10 and up, with parents beside the youngest viewers. Bring the family, and stay for the conversation afterward.