A Week Away

A Week Away

The adolescent musical “A Week Away,” which tells the story of a rebellious teenager who finds faith, friendship and love during a one week stay at a Christian youth camp, is Netflix’s attempt to gain ground in the “Christian film market,” one of the few genres of feature to have expanded in recent decades. That “so called” in the previous sentence isn’t meant as a knock on anyone’s religious beliefs I’m sure everyone involved with this project is either devout or respectful of those who are but rather as a provocation, aimed at anyone who cares about faith, cinema or both.

The tale starts with orphaned teen Will Hawkins (Kevin Quinn, who looks like he could be Zac Efron’s nephew) running from a police officer on foot, guitar in hand. We later learn that he’s a minor delinquent with such funny rebellious offenses on his long rap sheet as stealing a cop car and putting his high school up for sale on Craigslist.

(There were offers.) Will is given a weeklong stint at Christian youth summer camp in lieu of criminal charges because you know the hypothetical audience for this movie is suburban, middle-class and white: He was arrested without bodily harm, but if an African-American kid from anywhere in the United States stole a cop car well. And it’s hard to imagine The System going out of its way to find reasons not to prosecute him. The film attempts to inoculate itself against charges of racial cluelessness by placing Will in the care of Black foster mother Kristin (Sherri Shepherd), who works at said camp and has an earnest nerdy teenage son named George (Jahbril Cook).

Will bunks with George at Camp Aweegaway (“a week away,” get it?), where each falls for delightful girl and woos her when they’re not trying to win assorted competitions. Will sets his sights on Avery (Bailee Madison), the adorable daughter of the camp’s director (David Koechner, a.k.a. the perfect actor for this role; he looks like half the beer-bellied, motivational cliche shouting high school gym coaches in America). George makes a play for Avery’s cute but socially awkward pal (Kat Conner Sterling), and slowly overcomes his poor-self image with the help of cooler than he’ll ever be Will.

There’s a fun, short fantasy musical number think Super Bowl halftime show or grand finale musical number on “American Idol” set right after Will does a “makeover” on him, and several other mildly engaging numbers set on arrival day, in the camp’s cafeteria and in/around the swimming hole. But there are almost no dramatic stakes to speak of here, aside from a very brief third-act interlude where Will faces consequences for lying to Avery about his criminal past.

Which is of course a fake sort of “conflict,” because we know Avery would never cut loose handsome/considerate/sensitive Will over such a minor transgression. The movie’s “villain,” played by lanky redhead Iain Tucker, isn’t all that threatening or menacing he mostly just exudes competitive pride, jealousy and an overweening smugness.

“A Week Away” seems at times like a religious Disney Channel movie, as one might expect from former music video director Roman White (Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson) making his feature debut. The comedy moves fast and the dialogue is packed with jokes, but the musical numbers are adequate at best, which means they’re about on par with anything in a broadcast network series like “Glee” or “Smash.” And while it’s not as if this were an unwatchable film indeed, many of its individual components are solid somehow it managed to be both underachieving and forgettable.

Picture this, a Christian youth film inspired by “The Young Girls of Rochefort” or maybe “La Bamba” or even “8 Mile.” Can you imagine it? Or how about a Christian youth musical that takes after some movie with art in its eyes and poetry in its soul, like “Rebel Without a Cause,” “The Outsiders,” or “The Spectacular Now”? Is divine intervention the only way for us to get such things made? Cinema needs you tonight.

Watch A Week Away For Free On Gomovies.