Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation

I have to admit that I had never heard of Gwen Shamblin before. I've seen various interviews by Jennifer Grey about this movie and that piqued my interest. I googled Gwen Shamblin and her lifestory is very interesting and at the same time it is frightening how seemingly easily she became a questionable prophetess. I am fascinated of Jennifer Grey and her way of portraying Gwen Shamblin. 10 points for Jennifer! The way in which Gwen Shamblin seems to have lost her own self more and more without noticing it is implemented very well in the film (of course also by the great leading actress). I think I will watch this movie once again. It's very interesting from the first minute til the end.

I'm sure there's a good story there somewhere and I persevered for sometime. Lots of annoying features but mainly the acting.

Sadly Jennifer Grey's facial work is so severe she sadly looks very weird (a little similar to David Beckam's wife). I continued watching until she changed her hair (yikes) and was eating the cake- she could hardly open her moth to get the cake in! The reaction to it was OTT.

Why were the staff no eating the cake - did I miss something?

How I dislike the US show bizz churches with brainwashed followers. I wanted to carry on watching but the weird face was way too much.

Jennifer Grey is fine (the two star rating from me), but this film is nothing more than a lame paint-by-numbers coverage of the events, and not entirely accurate.

I fully expect a limited series on one of the streamers in the future. This story is too good. LOTS of interesting details not covered in this basic TV movie. And yes, this version is EXACTLY what you'd expect from Lifetime.

The guy playing her second husband is totally miscast. Very cartoonish.

The real-life Gwen Shamblin WAS, herself, cartoonish, and this film plays down her outlandish personality.

This was filmed in Montreal (!), but it does feel like Tennessee. I know Franklin, so that aspect is fine. However, Lifetime is cheap, and films most of their junk in Canada, like the awful Hallmark Channel.

As Jennifer Grey had said, I too never knew anything about this church and Shamblin. I remember hearing about the plane crash and noticing that man that played Tarzan. So I looked in to it and went down a rabbit hole a bit, I was really looking forward to this movie coming out as I knew Jennifer Grey would nail the character and she did to a T. I learned a lot more about the story of Shamblin and what she had created with the church and her following. It took more than praying to be thin that's for sure. Very interesting story, that keeps getting more and more interesting. The acting was amazing in this, definitely worth watching!

Like previous reviewers, I had never heard of Gwen Shamblin.

The story itself was mildly interesting, but that's it. The acting, with the exception of Jennifer Grey, was atrocious. The sets looked like they had been built in someone's garage, and the script was choppy and amateurish. The wide-eyed parishioners behaved like brainwashed Moonies who hung on to her every word.

Just like Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton, Ted Haggart, Jimmy Swaggart, and other "Christian" leaders, Gwen became money-hungry and obsessed with her church. She believed herself to be above her own rules, and believed that she was specially chosen by God. This is an old story, told and retold many times --- only the names are different. **yawn**.

Don't waste your time with this one. Do something more interesting, like watching your grass grow or wallpapering the bathroom. You will thank me.