In 1980, Lee Strobel (Mike Vogel) is an award-winning investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune, who has just been commended for his work on investigating the Ford Pinto fires. One night, Lee, his pregnant wife Leslie (Erika Christensen) and their young daughter, Alison, are out to dinner when Alison begins choking on a gumball.
A nurse named Alfie (L. Scott Caldwell) comes to Alison’s aid. After helping Alison spit the gumball out, Leslie thanks her for saving her daughter. Alfie replies that it wasn’t her, but it was Jesus that saved her. Alfie explains that she is a nurse at the local hospital and that she and her husband were supposed to go to another restaurant that night, but she got a feeling that she was supposed to come to the restaurant that they were at that night.
Later that night, Alison asks her mom and dad about who Jesus is. Leslie tries to explain it to her, but Lee says that Jesus is a story that a lot of people tell like the storybooks that he reads to her at night. After Alison goes to sleep, Leslie tells Lee that she thought that they weren’t going to force their beliefs onto Alison and that they were going to let her make up her own mind. Lee doesn’t want to go into it, and they let it go.
The next day, Leslie goes to see Alfie to thank her again, and Alfie invites Leslie to her church. Leslie goes, and after the service, she talks with Alfie in her car. Alfie asks Leslie about Lee and what he believes. Leslie says that Lee only believes “in the facts.” Leslie goes to Alfie’s church again on another night, and when she gets home, she tells Lee that she went to see Alfie the other day to thank her and that Alfie invited her to her church and that she went. Lee says that he wishes he could have been there to see that. Leslie tells him that she wanted to go and that she went again and that time, she says that she felt something more real than anything she’s ever felt in her life. After hearing that, Lee storms off and tells his wife that he’s going out to file a missing persons report, to which Leslie replies that that is not funny. Lee says it is not meant to be.
Lee decides to put his investigative skills to the test to prove that Christianity is a hoax. He talks to Religion reporter, Kenny London (Mike Pniewski), who tells Lee that the Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that if that were proven to be false, then everything would fall like a house of cards. So, Lee goes and sets up an unused room in the basement of the Tribune to gather evidence to disprove the resurrection of Jesus.
Lee goes to talk with a leading expert on the resurrection. The man tells Lee that there are around 500 people who testified that they saw Jesus alive weeks after He was killed. After the meeting, Lee gets paged by Leslie, who has gone into labor and has given birth to their son, Kyle.
During this time, Lee is also investigating a shooting between a cop, Joe Koblinsky, and a young black man, James Dixon. Lee goes to see Koblinsky in the hospital, but Koblinsky won’t talk to him, except to tell Lee to write a story that will put Dixon away for a long time. Lee finds out that Koblinsky has arrested Dixon over a half dozen times previously and has concluded that Dixon is Koblinsky’s informant. Lee meets with another cop to try to get confirmation that Dixon is Koblinsky’s informant. The cop confirms Lee’s suspicions and Lee runs the story.
The Case for Christ is a 2017 American Christian drama film directed by Jon Gunn and written by Brian Bird, based on a true story that inspired the 1998 book of the same name by Lee Strobel. The film stars Mike Vogel, Erika Christensen, Faye Dunaway and Robert Forster, and follows an atheist journalist who looks to disprove his wife’s Christian faith. The film was released on April 7, 2017 by Pure Flix Entertainment.
In the United States and Canada, The Case for Christ was released on April 7, 2017 alongside Going in Style and Smurfs: The Lost Village, and was projected to gross $5 million in its opening weekend from 1,174 theaters. It ended up debuting to $3.9 million, finishing 10th at the box office.[10] In its second weekend the film grossed $2.8 million, dropping 30.5% and finishing 9th at the box office.
The Case for Christ (2017)
Directed by: Jon Gunn
Starring: Mike Vogel, Erika Christensen, Faye Dunaway, Robert Forster, Frankie Faison, Mike Pniewski, Kevin Sizemore, Haley Rosenwasser
Screenplay by: Brian Bird
Cinematography by: Brian Shanley
Film Editing by: Vance Null
Set Decoration by: Natalie Rhooms
Music by: Will Musser
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic elements including medical descriptions of crucifixion, and incidental smoking.
Distributed by: Pure Flix Entertainment
Release Date: April 7, 2017
