Can someone explain the movie "The Ledge" to me?

[Skammer]

The Ledge is a movie that played at Sundance and was written/directed by atheist evangelist Matthew Chapman. A recent CNN article says

The film is written and directed by Matthew Chapman, an outspoken atheist who says it’s Hollywood’s first offering to feature an openly atheist hero in a story about religious conflict. His mission is to help create a more positive image for atheism, which he says is often misunderstood and maligned, for audiences who may otherwise not be exposed to it.

“My hope was to make an emotional appeal,” says. He hopes it’s a “Brokeback Mountain” moment for nonbelievers.

Okay, fine, an atheist hero. I’d argue that most movie heroes are of undisclosed religious belief, and I’m sure we could come up with some self-described atheist ones. But iff Chapman’s agenda is to make the hero’s atheism integral to his goodness, that’s fine.

Another description of the movie described it as having “an atheist hero and a Christian villian.” Again, not for the first time, but I wondered what the plot was. The IDMB plot summary was cryptic, so off to Wikipedia which offers

The film quickly switches to Gavin Nichols, an atheist played by Charlie Hunnam, standing on a ledge as if to jump. A small crowd forms below Gavin and Hollis responds to the emergency.

The movie then recounts the story of Gavin and his love for Shana, his neighbor’s wife played by Liv Tyler. When the neighbor, a fundamentalist Christian named Joe, finds out that Gavin has been sleeping with his wife, he challenged Gavin to a battle of wills. This involved Gavin jumping off a building to prove his love for Shana, despite his disbelief in an afterlife.

So let me get this straight - the hero of the story who is supposed to do for atheism what Brokeback Mountain did for gay cowboys is sleeping with his neighbor’s wife? And I have no idea what that last part means - how jumping is supposed to prove his love for Shana and how that matters anyway since she is already married to someone else.

Is there anyone who can enlighten me? I’m not opposed to atheist heroes but I feel like I’m missing some important details here.

[Tom_Tildrum]

Here’s a brutal review that gives more of the plot.

ETA: Some partial spoilers, I guess.

[Skammer]

Thanks Tom.

Joe pisses off Gavin when, during dinner with Gavin and his roommate, Joe decides to pray for the roommate, on the count of him being gay. It’s then that Gavin decides to seduce away [Joe’s wife] Shauna, a reluctant born-again who clings to Joe because he saved her from drugs and her pimp.

Yeah, not seeing how this is supposed to make Gavin sympathetic or heroic. Oh well - based on the terrible reviews I’m not going to waste too much time trying to figure it out.

[jharvey963]

My wife and I just watched The Ledge last night on pay-per-view, based on an interview I heard by Matthew Chapman (the director) on one of the podcasts that I listen to.

Short summary: we both loved this movie!

I was on the edge of my seat for most of it. The descriptions above are not entirely accurate and give a somewhat false impression of what the movie is about. I won’t correct those errors so as to avoid spoilers.

The movie was well written and well acted, with some fairly big name actors: Terrence Howard, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, etc. As the director said in his interview, both main characters are flawed in their own ways.

This movie isn’t an “Atheist versus Christian” screed. It’s actually more of an excellent suspense movie, whose main characters just happen to be Atheist and Christian.

I don’t want to say any more so that I don’t give anything away, but I do highly recommend this movie. I’d give it an 8 out of 10. (I’m not associated with this movie in any way. I’m just a satisfied viewer.)

J.