Prayers for Bobby (2009 TV Movie) User Reviews

Will it reach them?

[oaksong · 9/10 · 28 January 2009]

It would be so wonderful if the people that this piece is about actually watched it and understood what kind of hell they're putting their kids in for no particularly good reason.

It should be required viewing in every Baptist church on the planet. And there are a few other evangelical organizations with strange ideas about human beings who might learn something.

I will be surprised if Sigourney Weaver doesn't get at least an Emmy nomination, particularly given the speech she gives to the city council, both well written and well delivered.

Ryan Kelly also delivers a believable performance as Bobby, regardless of some of the cutting required to get the film into a two hour programming window.

Absolutely wonderful; heartbreaking, and I recommend it for everyone

[Dragoneyed363 · 9/10 · 25 January 2009]

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to watching Prayers for Bobby at all. I had seen the previews for weeks and since it was a "Lifetime" original, I had low expectations and even made fun of it with my friends. All that changed when I saw how wonderful it actually turned out to be. Prayers for Bobby is an emotionally and physically tiring film that entertains from start to finish.

The movie is just so clever at times. While it is thin and bland too, it is brilliantly played out and executed in the sense that you actually care what's going on and what's going to happen to these characters. They keep you interested with problem after problem and therefore they don't have enough time to let you get bored. Sigourney Weaver plays an amazing role as well, and the movie is just so endearing that I really lose myself in it every time I watch it.

It was a truly spectacular film; one of the best "made for TV"s I have seen, and it was a splendid job well done for all the cast and crew. If you think you can enjoy, I suggest you see it right away.

Poignant and effective, leaves you emotionally lethargic but also hopeful

[tj19 · 9/10 · 24 January 2009]

BASED ON A TRUE STORY I'm not much of a fan of the Lifetime network. They usually produce wishy-washy and cliché titles usually about divorce, or pregnancy issues, or something that really has no plot or substance. However, being a fan of Sigourney Weaver and her work, and also interested in the story that actually has an actual important theme, I debated whether it would be worth two hours of my time. It was. It is 1979. Bobby Griffith (Ryan Kelley) is a teen who has a loving family and a pretty good life. However, he believes himself to be a homosexual. He fears that his mother, Mary, (Weaver) will not accept him and love him anymore, due to her clear and well-known loath and contempt of gay and lesbians due to her faith and literal interpretation of the bible. When Bobby tells his brother he thinks he is gay, his brother tells their mother, hoping his mother can help Bobby. Instead, she treats Bobby as if he has a disease that can be "cured" through God. Mary's overbearing and abrasive treatment towards Bobby distances him from his family out to Oregon to live with his cousin, who believes anyone should be allowed to love anyone. While in Oregon, Bobby meets a guy who makes him feel good about himself. When Bobby comes back from his vacation, he tells his family about the guy he met and his mother reacts as if he is a perverse and sick person. She tells him she WILL NOT have a gay son. This upsets Bobby enough to permanently move to Oregon without a goodbye from his mother. While in Oregon, feeling the isolation of the family he loves, he becomes suicidal and cannot take it anymore. He commits suicide. For the rest of the film, we see his mother go through some major character development and we see her try to overcome her ignorance. I never cried during a movie before until I saw this movie. Prayers for Bobby was truly an amazing movie. Watching Sigourney Weaver as Mary Griffith broke my heart. She was believable and perfect. Ryan Kelley also did a great job playing Bobby. He showed a lot of range and purity in his performance. The movie definitely has a made-for-TV and Lifetime channel feel to it. It WAS a made-for-TV Lifetime original movie, so get over that (I did). I am so glad I saw this and I urge anyone and everyone to see it. 9/10

Required Viewing for All Parents

[jazzything · 10/10 · 21 March 2010]

The movie went off five minutes ago and I'm still sobbing. This movie should be required viewing for every parent. Beyond the powerful subject matter, Prayers for Bobby is ultimately about loving and accepting your children for whoever they are. It's about nurturing their self-esteem, raising them to treat others with respect and praying that they go through life with love in their hearts. Bottom-line, it made me realize that I will always love my son unconditionally. He's four now. And if I'm blessed enough that we are both around when he's 14, 24 or 44, I will stand by and love him for whoever he is as he comes into his own and forever.

A movie for anyone who has felt misunderstood or alone.

[LauraHope007 · 10/10 · 28 January 2009]

Have you ever felt like you did not fit in? Have you ever had your parents not accept something about you? If you think you can not get this movie or understand and you are straight, think again. I am straight, but this film reminded me of all the times in my life I did not feel wanted or as though I fit in. I've spent the last year of my life fighting for the one place on the planet I felt like I belonged, and the one industry I felt I fit into. Have you ever had to fight to be? Have you ever had to stand up for something you believe in? Have you ever thought you were right about a belief and then discovered how wrong you were? Have you ever judged someone by ignorant standards, only to realize you were wrong? Are you part of a minority that has been persecuted and degraded? If any of this applies to you, see this film. It is more than just a movie about homosexuality. It is a film about people, family, love, friendship, and understanding. And if you are someone who thinks that homosexuals are evil, I dare you to watch this film.

Excellent, well-done movie that has you balling your eyes out

[jtsegal · 10/10 · 25 January 2009]

The whole movie I was crying profusely. The cast was terrific. A must-see, especially for gay people and family of gay people. A gay youth is outcast by his mother and he struggles to accept his homosexuality. He eventually is able to leave his family for Portland, OR, but his mother's emotional/biblical abuse remains scarring his mind. I don't want to spoil what happens in Portland, but you will certainly find this a movie that makes you feel deeply for all the characters involved. I really felt connected to all the characters. This movie was certainly a movie that would be great to watch with someone you care for, as you will be crying the whole time. This movie points out the horrors of the religious Right, and criticizes the arguments against homosexuality.

Touching!

[elven_avari · 10/10 · 24 January 2009]

The truth can be heartbreaking. Mary Griffith realized this when her son Bobby jumped off of a freeway into oncoming traffic. I just finished watching this movie and I must say... this movie is beyond touching. The acting was fantastic and it's message was very inspiring. Prayers for Bobby shows the struggles that gay youth and their families can go through, whether that means failing or triumph. This movie not only touches on the issues of homosexuality but also on pushing religion to far on someone, suicide and coming to terms with who you are. Life isn't always made up of rainbows and butterflies and this movie expresses that without holding anything back.

Bible study

[lorcan9000 · 7/10 · 25 January 2009]

I cried my eyes out, so maybe I shouldn't raise any objections, but... many things in this beautifully made movie were more simplistic than they needed to be.

The priest called Mary's attention to commands in the Bible she obviously wasn't taking literally in her life: we should stone disobedient children to death, we shouldn't eat shellfish. She then looks up these passages and tells the priest she has read them, and continues to raise questions about his reasoning. But earlier in the movie the family amuses itself with Bible quizzes -- I say a phrase, you tell me the book and chapter it's from. How could a woman who clearly knew the Bible better than she knew her own son not already have read Deuteronomy and Leviticus backwards, forwards, and inside out? For a self-convinced Christian like Mary, the contradictions between the passages in the Bible she liked and the ones she didn't like would have been explained away long before the events of this story.

Also, as another poster has said, the story didn't really lead us to understand why the boy did what he did. There's a hint that his boyfriend was seeing other guys, he got a really nasty birthday present from his mother, he was very lonely at the hospital where he worked, but -- the dots weren't really connected. It felt like a couple of scenes had been cut, with the effect that at the climactic moment I found myself asking "Wha'?" instead of feeling the horrible inevitability of it.

Why am I criticizing a movie that gave me the best cry I've had in months? Because movies on Lifetime, even the best ones, always pull back from the edge. There is always at least to some degree an ironed-out, homogenized, Canadian-locationized blandness to the storytelling (even though this one wasn't shot in Canada.) What if they let a movie actually be itself? What if they aimed for Sundance quality nuance, naturalism, emotion, unexpectedness in storytelling? The writing and direction on this movie were first-rate, for what it was (and Sigourney Weaver and Ryan Kelley ripped my heart out)-- but I feel that both writer and director could have gone all the way with it and made it a MOVIE.

I wonder why they didn't.

A Child Is Listening, Maybe Your Own

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 24 January 2009]

The greatest thing about Sigourney Weaver and the rest of the cast members who played members of the Griffith family is that in making Prayers For Bobby they did not succumb to the temptation of making a caricature of their character. It's been done before, it would have been so easy, the religious right gives you so much material.

But the Griffith family Harry Czerny, Sigourney Weaver and their children aren't bad people. All they have done is sit back quite comfortably on the assurance of their faith that GLBT people are not quite normal, they are afflicted with some deadly mind disease that God does not approve of. And there a lot of people who will go to their graves thinking that, though the amount shrinks as time goes on.

You can have a lot of smug assumptions until the problem hits home with you. Which is what happens to the Griffith family when young Ryan Kelley as Bobby Griffith comes out to his brother who promptly rats him out to his mother. After that its the attempts to search for a cure or as writer Wayne Besen has so aptly put it, 'pray the gay away'.

I've known a lot of people who were survivors of such colossal ignorance as preached by the religious right. Here in my native Buffalo, I know one young man who moved here two years ago and he grew up in the Assemblies of God Church. It took him a long time to break free and realize his self worth, but his is a lot happier a story than what happens to Mary Griffith and her son.

Another man whom I had a relationship with back in New York when I lived there was a survivor of electroshock treatment. It was thought that would cure him by his parents who were from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. It was this or kick him out of the house and disown him which is what eventually happened. I'm sure they thought they were doing the best for their kid.

When I worked at Crime Victims Board I had a mugging case of a young kid in Central Park. But what had happened to him was that he had come out to his enlightened parents and they threw him out of the house. This was not a street smart kid, he lived on the upper east side of Manhattan and went to prep school. He was staying in Central Park that night and got mugged and I got the case from a shelter in New York. I know his plans were to go to a girl's house he knew where her parents were more accepting eventually. I never did find out if he made it.

I can tell you first hand that the Griffith experience is far from an isolated one. Gay/Lesbian/BiSexual/Transgender youth are far more at risk for suicide than their straight peers. But what makes the Griffith story unique is how they and especially Mary Griffith took a mind numbing tragedy and turned it into a position of advocacy for those who too often don't get it. That is the challenge that Sigourney Weaver in her performance shows that Mary Griffith and her family met and overcame.

Sigourney's final speech before her small town council advocating plans for a Gay Pride Day will move all of you. It might even cause some on the religious right to question their smug assumptions about us. That is my prayer for Bobby.

And this film review is dedicated to all of the case examples I knew from my professional and personal life and to one other. A young lady from Warsaw, New York who had the courage to break from her fundamentalist family and seek love and acceptance in a wider more tolerant place on this globe. I wish I had her guts when I was a teen.

Good TV Movie

[Rabster22 · 6/10 · 27 February 2009]

Having watched this film I scored it 6/10, then after reading the bulk of other comments I wondered if I had been a little mean. I am really not sure. Being neither gay nor a bible-basher...maybe I didn't fully relate? To be honest I think the real problem is that I am not American. (Or perhaps it was set in the '80's and *surely* attitudes have changed?) There just seemed to be too many inconsistencies in the story that bothered me. Bobby has a loving family apart from his fanatical mother and vaguely ambivalent father. He has found happiness with a partner in Portland yet still his mother's words from his childhood drive him to suicide? His mother, supposedly a Christian fanatic who takes the bible literally doesn't know many key verses? Acting was very good, Ms. Weaver is as ever engrossing but though a good watch I just can't get that gushing about this film that so many others have. I'll stick with 6/10, 6.5 if I could.

Say Amen to Prayers for Bobby ***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 27 January 2009]

Sigourney Weaver hits a home-run performance as a right-wing bible carrying nut who can't accept the fact that her younger son is gay.

She resorts to just about everything possible to get him to amend his ways. She sends him to therapy, constantly belittles him and uses the bible frequently to justify her disdain for his lifestyle.

A confused and bewildered young man, Bobby eventually commits suicide. The real tragedy here is to get his mother thinking that the condemnation of gays is really not the way to go.

The film is a very good one as it especially comes to grips with the church's condemnation of the gay life style and the use of the bible to distort this way of living.

An Unfulfilled Opportunity

[dglink · 7/10 · 25 January 2009]

Good intentions do not necessarily make for good movies, and "Prayers for Bobby," which brims with good intentions, falls short of its creators' goals. The film's story cannot be spoiled for those yet to see a telecast, because televised previews and interviews with star Sigourney Weaver have already done so. A young man comes to the realization that he is attracted to men and cannot change his nature. His otherwise doting mother, who adheres to a strict interpretation of the Bible, cannot accept a gay son. The son commits suicide, and, at fadeout, the mother is leading a gay pride parade. Unfortunately, a wrenching tragic story has been rushed, and the bland results are more "after school special," than truly special, like the groundbreaking "A Touch of Frost." Bobby is well played by Ryan Kelley, although the character's anguish and inner conflicts remain unexplored. The freedom he experiences during a visit to an out-of-town cousin, his budding relationship with a handsome young man, and his father's seeming indifference to his sexual orientation make the boy's ultimate decision puzzling. Evidently, Bobby has even visited an inclusive church, run by gay pastor Dan Butler. Nevertheless, the young man with these avenues of solace before him chooses the darkest solution. Because the story is true and Bobby left a diary, much material must have been cut. Directory Russell Mulcahy, best known for music videos, inserts rapid flashes of a bound Bobby struggling to release himself. However inspired these bits might have seemed, the results are more annoying than illuminating.

The mother's character shift occurs with similar whiplash rapidity. The role of Mary Griffith was likely written to attract a major player with award-winning aspirations, and Sigourney Weaver rises to the occasion with appropriate histrionics and serious soul searching. However, a woman who, according to the script, has been bound to her Bible throughout life asks simplistic questions that could have surfaced in Bible school. The torment and inner turmoil that she must have experienced in challenging long-held beliefs are tossed away in a few scenes. Perhaps "Prayers for Bobby" is appropriate for families with a gay child that have no knowledge of homosexuality, which seems remote in the 21st century. With only a couple chaste male-male kisses, the film is certainly discrete and suggests little of gay life, other than darkly lit bars, furtive encounters, and the rare tolerant parents. However, the Bush years are history, Proposition 8 has been passed, and gays need films with more bite than this de-fanged piece. With a potentially important and gripping story and a talented cast, "Prayers for Bobby" is a lost opportunity to make a statement about the role that organized religion plays in demonizing gay Americans and denying them their inalienable rights.

Far-reaching impact

[itent · 10/10 · 15 October 2012]

Aside from the production values (script, acting, cinematography, direction, etc.), which were excellent, this is one of those rare movies that incites thoughtful and far-reaching discussion and maybe even debate, that can impact and change people's lives. That, in my mind is the objective of every filmmaker.

Prayers for Bobby takes Mary Griffith's transformation to the next level. Her impact on parents, while substantial, could only reach a small populace. The filmmakers have taken that outreach and (literally) broadcast it to the world. There is no end to the positive impact this film will have, not only on parents and their children, but on those who may have preconceived notions about gay people.

This is one to watch

[droogsandyarbles · 10/10 · 19 July 2012]

I will admit. I refrained from watching this one for quite some time just by reading it's synopsis. I'd had enough of listening to hate propaganda about gays from the right wing and the evangelicals, and I just didn't want to deal with anymore hate. But someone said.. Sigourney decimates this film. You need to see it just for her. So I gave it a chance. Whoa... was I surprised. The power of this film is beyond description. You do not walk away from this, untouched or unfeeling. I hid in my room because I couldn't stop crying. It's one of those I think...once you watch it...you're gonna go back and do it again and again. It really is top notch!!

I can't stop crying at the end. Best film about gays ever!

[Hunky Stud · 10/10 · 22 August 2012]

I don't remember seeing any serious films about gay people. Most homosexual films are comedies which are not well done. I only found about this film on this site. since I have never heard about it before, I just assumed that it won't be too good. But I was so touched by this film, especially by Sigourney Weaver's performance. If this were a real film, she should have won an Oscar for best actress! I can't stop crying at the end, it was so touching. Sigourney Weaver is a famous actress, but I felt as if she was really bobby's mother. I have never seen the other actors in that family. so it seemed as if they were all real family members.

If your parents rejected you for being gay, or if you have a gay in the family and you are struggling to accept him, this is definitely a film for you.

This film NEEDED to be made.

[RanDizzle1198 · 10/10 · 30 October 2019]

About 12 years ago, I lost my dearest friend Daryl. He was gay and his parents had disowned him for being gay. One Christmas, years after they disowned him, his parents invited him back for a family dinner. I had spent many Christmas evenings with him, not having a family myself so when this happened, all of us 'strays' were overjoyed for him.

After Xmas, one of the other 'strays' and I had planned a trip to Scotland for Hogmanay (New Years Eve). Daryl met is at our local pub before our flight and told us the story of his 'family Christmas'. They tried to convince him to go to a reconditioning centre to cure his SINS of being gay because HE CHOSE this lifestyle. They badgered him and belittled him, quoted bible versus to him and told him he was a sinner.

Daryl shortly after New Years called his ex boyfriend in the middle of the night, told him he would love him always, apologised for what he would wake up to and hung up the phone.

Daryl jumped off the Bloor Viaduct bridge in Toronto and died.

All of a sudden his parents looked like loving and accepting people. I remember sitting in a church, the very same religion who brainwashed people into gay-bashing and hearing about the 'accident' that took Daryl's life. I remember seeing the many colourful people who all sat close to the back of the church and the very conservative ones who sat right up front.

As in the film, when Bobby's boyfriend turned to the only accepting family member of his and said 'are you okay with this?!?', I saw many of the 'colourful' people in the church turning to each other asking the same. I remember at one point I laughed out loud. I remember envisioning Daryl sitting up in the rafters of the church laughing at the spectacle his family had made out of his death and how they were morning his death when they didn't even know him.

None of us went to his family' wake. Instead we all celebrated his life in our own ways and mourned him with love in our hearts.

I am VERY PROUD (and I *know* I'll get all thumbs down for this one), I do not subscribe to any bible or written religious hypocrisy. I am a Witch and though the bible tells you in Leviticus that 'thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live', my religious belief is of love, acceptance, tolerance and not fear of my Gods, intolerance, judgment and murder. Yes MURDER. Just about all religions have murdered others for their beliefs. Catholics, Protestants, Muslims etc. No REAL Witch would ever dream of harming anyone. REAL Witches have just one commandment 'Do what thou wilt as long as ye harm none'. I think that covers everything properly.

I became a Witch after many years of Christianity beating me down. How women suffered the pain of childbirth due to Eve's sins or how women were dirty when they menstruated, after childbirth and for longer after giving birth to a girl instead of a boy. But the one that got me and cut me to the bone was when I was shaken and told 'animals don't have souls! You are baptised and should know better!' I was only 6. So I became a tree hugging, vegetarian, person loving, accepting and caring WITCH. And proud of it. So while I know you will thumbs down me please remember I would never hurt you on purpose unlike many other religious people do every day.

Bless PFLAG with the support and education they give. I also feel blessed to live in a country that was one of the first to legalise gay marriage. Though I am the MOST heterosexual being I know, I do not believe there is anything wrong with anyone who is gay, bi, lesbian or trans.

This film needed to be made. Thank you to EVERYONE involved in creating this heartfelt, eye opening and truly heartbreaking film. It is sad that this continues to this day. Religion has been much cause of death, war and destruction and honestly, if I were 'Fod' I wouldn't care what name you called me by or what book you followed, all I would care about is that you live your life without hurting or judging others.

There are many Bobbys and Janes out there. May they all have more tolerant and understanding people in their lives helping them to grow and flourish. In memory of all those Bobby's Jane's and of course my dearest Daryl. My heart and love go with you all.

Prayers for Bobby faithfully translates sacrilegious homosexuality through uneven storytelling.

[TheMovieDiorama · 6/10 · 26 March 2019]

A film specifically made for TV having been premiered on America's Lifetime network a decade ago. Naturally, the quality and cinematic flair were kept to a bare minimum, consequently leaving all of the focus on this tragic story. Whilst the first half came across as painfully obvious and underdeveloped, it's the second half that truly questioned the evangelical teachings of Presbyterianism. Bobby Griffith, a young boy who was essentially "perfect", starts to come to terms with his homosexuality. His mother on the other hand does not and rapidly drives her son away into mental depression and paranoia.

As an advocate of LGBT films, this docudrama has good intentions. It conveys the bigotry towards gays through a personable family story that manages to be accessible to millions. Sure it lacked the emotional depth, particularly from Bobby's perspective, and rapidly culminates his adolescence in a mere twenty minutes. Ford's teleplay was clearly under time constraints and unfortunately did not allow the tragic undertone to simmer, disabling any real emotional connection to Bobby. However, the story then changes viewpoint. This tragic tale is not necessarily about Bobby. No, it's about a mother coming to terms with the closed-minded prejudice she gave her son that drove him to tragedy.

All of sudden the story becomes interesting, questioning the interpretations of biblical text. Text that she deemed holy and evangelical. Several passages, mostly Leviticus, were queried when she met a local reverend who reassured her that Bobby was not sinful. Real tangible emotion is brought forth, thanks to a dependable and convincing performance from Weaver. Superb acting. Say what you will about the horrific editing techniques and mediocre directing (it was like watching CSI...), you cannot deny the good intentions that Prayers for Bobby brings to the nation. Poor first half, good second half. But most importantly: stop homophobia, because you never know when "a child is listening".

Very Touching

[eamallc · 7/10 · 25 January 2009]

Very touching movie that will definitely bring a tear to your eye. Sigourney Weaver gives a fantastic performance here. Some of it seemed a bit overdone. For example, the scene when Bobby meets with David's parents just didn't seem believable to me at all. It seemed totally overacted. The basic story was just so incredibly sad. It was supposed to be uplifting at the end, but I didn't take it that way. A bright,smart,caring and loving young man is dead and the whole thing could have been avoided in the first place. Regardless of your religious persuasion, you need to accept your children for who they are. You may not agree or like it, but they are your children and you have to be tolerant,respectful,loving and patient. My best advice would be put yourself in their position and think about how you would want to be treated. Parents often have a difficult time doing that.

great show

[cometoseecasper · 10/10 · 5 May 2009]

I love this one, it felt so real (Yea I know it's based on real story what I mean is you can really feel like and it's happening to you or around you everyday). As a guy I'm not very proud to say I cried over this movie but I'm not gonna lie to it either, there were four parts where I cried most, one is when Bobby jumped off the bridge, one when the family received the news, one when the mom was giving that speech, one in the end when she hugged a boy who looked like her son.

I felt so happy for Bobby when he had a boyfriend but I already knew the story before I watched this movie so it broke my heart to know he was going to die not long from there.

I myself am a gay guy, and I've never told my parents about my homosexuality, not planning to either, some people suggested to watch this movie with their parents after they come out, but I'll just save it for myself, coz with their mind of thinking, they probably would yell at me and say "ARE YOU SAYING UR GOING TO KILL YOURSELF IF WE DON'T ACCPET YOU?!"

Stirring piece of of tragedy and triumph

[neighborlee · 7 April 2013]

Prayers for Bobby is the portrayal of a gay youth whose turbulent adolescence is made more strenuous over his mothers ( Mary Griffith) insistence, that he pray his gay away. Good intentions sometimes have greatly sad consequences , and we shall explore that here briefly.

People often say , that religion has ruined our world, bringing unfair judgment, where instead GOD's/Jesus's message was one of unconditional love and forgiveness. Few issues stir people to rage/bewilderment like gay rights do, even among members of the same loving family, though in todays world we see a massive up swell in support for it, at least among certain demographics.

Prayers for Bobby advocates healing of a nation, where instead of offering the Bible forward as a healing mechanism and helpful media for gods loving instructive word, it often devolves into harsh judgment and mean spirited rhetoric which only serves to drive wedges and hate between people. That was not the Bibles intention, and serves as a wakeup call and embarrassment to our country that it was ever allowed to take place.

This movie gently introduces us to the Griffith family, where a mothers ( brilliantly played by Sigourney Weaver ) love and determination to keep her family together in life, and in eternity, has her struggling to 'cure' her son of his gay lifestyle.

What follows is a stark examination of a young gay sons need ( played eloquently by Ryan Kelley) to maintain the love of his family, yet remain true to his inner calling, and when that falls apart, tragedy ensues.

Sometimes great tragedy spurs us into inner reflection as a mechanism to deal with great grief, and this movie triumphantly showcases the positive good that can come of such endeavors.

Through great inner soul searching , Signourney's portrayal of a confused mother looking for answers for her sons eternal grace comes full circle as she seeks guidance from a gay friendly church and starts to lift the veil of consternation from her once thought impossible view of her gay son being okay with GOD.

So, out of tragedy comes a eye opening experience where Mary Griffith is able to channel her grief over losing her son ( and her entire family), into a positive outcome of healing, as she leans forward into being a advocate for gay rights and proudly wears the banner of equality for her son.

Highly Recommended for the intended audience, as an absorbing, educational and uplifting story of triumph over tragedy and the endearing lessons achievable for a ever growing society.

sincere Lifetime movie

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 9 September 2016]

It's 1979 Walnut Creek, California. Bobby Griffith is confused sexually. His grandma is homophobic. He breaks up with his girlfriend. His older brother Ed finds him trying to commit suicide. His sister Joy and father Robert (Henry Czerny) try to be supportive. On the other hand, his religious mother Mary (Sigourney Weaver) refuses to accept it and actively tries to change him. It's a struggle until he goes to stay with his accepting cousin Jeanette. He starts dating David but his inner turmoil sends him to kill himself. Mary is devastated and searches for meaning with progressive Rev. Whitsell (Dan Butler).

It's a sincere Lifetime movie. The first half is very straight melodrama. The second half has Mary preaching. Sigourney Weaver does some big time acting. This is an issue sermon movie. It's more concentrated on that especially the second half.

A must see film for Christian families

[Jose Guilherme · 8/10 · 15 January 2010]

Sigourney Weaver hits the mark as a true story mother Mary Griffith. Great acting. The family too. The movie might seem a bit slow, but in fact it takes it time to show how Mary and her son Bobby eventually took life changing decisions.

I read so much on the internet from fundamentalist christians and what they think about gays. It's hard for them to have a level headed view of homosexuality. I think this film is a unique opportunity to think about how they deal with gays and their religion that should be about love and acceptance.

The movie certainly is a tear jerker and I hope it has a wider audience. I recommend it.

If homophobia had a cure, this would be one of it's ingredients

[thommy741 · 10/10 · 27 April 2013]

So I've watched this movie some time ago and still can't get over it. It's not about the excellent performance, it's not about the tragedy itself, it's the whole picture of this movie that literally blew me away. I normally do not cry during movies and if I do, it feels kind of forced (like in "My sister's keeper" which is made so that you cry and feel better afterwards) but the final of "Prayers for Bobby" felt like "release". Not this "finally-the-movie-is-over-release" but the release you can only experience after watching a loving mother going through the hardest process of her life to accept her son for what he was. I can't imagine anyone who gives this movie a serious shot coming out and saying "Ok, so this was lame, I don't understand the process". "Prayers for Bobby" shows what a real struggle looks like. It shows love, passion and extremes without being cliché. If get your hand on it, try it, it's worth your time and interest.

Simply a heart-melter.

[hisuifire · 10/10 · 30 March 2012]

I have never cried so much over a movie. I bawled my eyes out for the entire duration of the film, even knowing what to expect. It touched me in a way that no other movie has ever done, and it made me feel like I was Bobby. I felt his pain, his loneliness, and the feeling like the most important person in his life hated him for who he was. And when he was at the breaking point, I felt it too. It made me feel unlike any film or artwork or musical piece ever has. I am honestly completely shocked at the effect this movie had on me, and I wish I had watched it a few years ago when I was in high school to understand what I was going through.

I recommend this movie to everyone over the age of ten, especially "non straight" people and parents with gay, lesbian, and bisexual children, but even those who do not. It really opens your mind and your heart as well as your tear ducts, so grab a box of tissues and a warm fuzzy blanket and get ready for your heart to melt away.

Hits You Like A Train And Doesn't Let Up...Get The Tissues Ready!

[josheyboy29 · 8/10 · 6 April 2013]

If you want to sit down for a rare grade A TV movie, i would highly suggest "Prayers For Bobby" with an amazingly gutsy performance by Sigourney Weaver.

Ms. Weaver plays an uber religious mother whose world is turned upside down when her son Bobby comes out of the closet as gay. For a good portion of the movie, we follow the clashes between Bobby and his mother, and the pressure against him gets so out of control that he takes his own life. From this tragedy, the character portrayed by Weaver begins to question everything she's known about the bible and religion in general.

Sigourney puts in such a great performance here. We hate her at first for being cold against her son, and by the end of the film, we feel sorry for her and shed a tear (buckets are very possible too!) in her honor. Henry Czerny is also reliable, and the young man who played Bobby showed great promise in an amazing performance.

In these days when vitriol against minorities is so out of hand, this movie becomes incredibly relevant, too bad this was a made for TV movie, it was based on a real life tragedy, and if it was in theaters and gained a larger audience, maybe some could put themselves in the shoes of Bobby and his mother. If you are in a similar situation and PFLAG, The Trevor Project or It Gets Better are out of the question, this movie can work as well. All is not lost, it truly does get better.

Prayers For Bobby, see it for an amazing performance by Weaver, and a truly inspiring, uplifting, and potentially life changing story.