Depending on which poll you look at, anywhere from 20 to 45 percent of Americans attend church services regularly, a vast majority of them Christian. That's a big chunk of the population active in church, yet few movies are made specifically for that audience. What gives?

There are a lot of possible reasons for it -- for example, the assumption that many regular churchgoers don't go to the movies as often as some other demographic groups -- but "The Second Chance" is evidence that quality films can be made to serve this audience. (Unfortunately, the film did poorly at the box office, suggesting more strategic marketing and advertising are needed. Or, perhaps, that Christians just don't GO to movies. But I don't think that's the case.)

"The Second Chance" is a Christian film, but it's not a missionary tool. It has no specific message for non-Christians, though they might find it interesting enough. It's meant for people who are already Christians, as a call to them to get their priorities straight. It achieves this elegantly, intelligently, without the pandering or over-sentimentalization that have plagued many other Christian films.

It is set in an unnamed large city in which there are two churches begun long ago by the same man, the aging Jeremiah Jenkins (J. Don Ferguson). The Rock is the huge, mostly white church with televised services and wealthy parishioners. The Second Chance, on the other hand, is the older of the two, in a part of town that's now a little rundown and surrounded by crime. Jeremiah years ago turned his pastoral duties at Second Chance over to Jake Sanders (Jeff Obafemi Carr), a fiery preacher who, like most of his congregation, is black. But the same board of directors still governs both churches.

Jeremiah will retire soon and wants to turn The Rock over to his son, Ethan (Michael W. Smith), a musician/author/superstar minister who stops to sign autographs while gliding into services every Sunday. Ethan and Jake are about the same age, and Jake has nothing but respect for Ethan's dad -- but Ethan himself, it seems to Jake, is losing sight of what church is supposed to be all about. The Gucci shoes, expensive ties and state-of-the-art house that he and his fiancee are buying suggest Ethan has let the money and notoriety go to his head.

Ethan's dad agrees, and he sends Ethan over to Second Chance for a few weeks to watch how Jake performs his day-to-day duties ministering to his flock. Maybe some time among the downtrodden and troubled will wake him up.

Maybe none of this sounds very interesting so far, but I find the examination of churches' behind-the-scenes workings fascinating, mostly true to life and highly complex. The board of directors in the film, while in need of a refocusing, is not an evil bunch of corporate types who only love money. Rather, they legitimately want to do God's work and consider themselves stewards over the money that God's followers have donated.

Ethan and the board of directors are not the only ones in need of change, though. Jake is hotheaded and inconsistent, berating one lapsed Christian while enabling another. But you get the sense, through Steve Taylor's direction and Carr's performance, that this is more or less what an inner-city pastor's life is like, warts and all.

The film falls prey to at least one dreadful movie cliché, the one where the simpleton shows everyone the right path. (Simpleton characters usually exist in movies solely for that purpose.) But in general, the performances are strong and the production values are high, making it a film Christians can be proud of as a source of both inspiration and quality drama.


THE DVD

There are optional English and French subtitles, but no alternate-language tracks.

VIDEO: The anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer is very good, with minimal blemishes, great color saturation and only a little edge enhancement.

AUDIO: The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is excellent, just superb. Gospel music plays a large part in the film, and it's mixed crisply and cleanly. The film sounds great.

EXTRAS: The disc boasts a healthy, substantial selection of extras. I've seen plenty of big-name Hollywood productions that didn't bother with this much bonus stuff on the DVDs.

First is a commentary by director Steve Taylor and actors Michael W. Smith and Jeff Obafemi Carr. It's pleasant enough, not terribly enlightening, but a nice visit with the director and stars.

There are four deleted scenes totaling about 5 minutes of material. In the optional commentary over these scenes, director Steve Taylor frankly admits the problem with them: The story needed to get moving, and these scenes were slowing it down. He was wise to omit them.

The behind-the-scenes featurette (8:34) is standard stuff, with everyone talking about how great the shoot was and how great the cast is and how great everything is. Meh.

Far more interesting is a curious piece called "Beyond the Making of 'The Second Chance'" (13:30). It's Nashville filmmaker Kip Kubin's documentary of the film's production, which Taylor let him make with one requirement: that it not be a typical behind-the-scenes featurette. The result is an artistic, almost experimental feature that goes behind the scenes without seeming like a DVD extra. It almost works as a short film in its own right.

"The Second Chance FAQ File" (20:15) is cast and filmmakers answering, on camera, questions about the movie. They are not probing questions, exactly; they run along the lines of "Why this movie?" and "Can (gospel musician Michael W. Smith) act?" and "Why Nashville?" (Apparently the film takes place in Nashville, though I don't see any specific evidence of that in the movie itself.) This feature is basically just more making-of stuff, but it's fine as far as it goes.

For fans of Michael W. Smith, who plays the lead and is a real-life musician, there's a music video (3:16) for the song "All in the Serve." The song's chord progression and melodic hook is nearly identical to -- are you ready for this? -- Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again." Coincidence? Probably. But still, awesome! The video is the usual performance-footage-mixed-with-clips-from-the-movie scenario. Not a bad song, though, really.

Then there's a brief clip of Taylor and Smith presenting a prize at the Gospel Music Awards (1:47). Cute bit. The joke seems to be that hey, these guys made a MOVIE!!

J. Don Ferguson's story (1:38) features the actor, who plays Jeremiah Jenkins in the film, telling a personal story about his own health problems and his decision to do the movie. It's inspiring and a nice little addition to the DVD.

Finally, there are trailers for this film and a few other Christian-themed movies.


IN SUMMARY

I don't think anyone expected this movie to be any good, and it certainly doesn't break new ground. But it's a surprisingly well-made film, addressing issues that matter to a lot of people in a smart, thought-provoking way. The DVD treatment is worthy, too. Non-religious or non-Christian people probably won't get much out of it, but for church-going Christians, it's recommended.