Old Fashioned

“Old Fashioned” is a romance drama about two young adults, Clay and Amber (Rik Swartzwelder and Elizabeth Roberts) who, despite contrasting values on relationships before marriage, form a romantic attraction after meeting each other. Clay believes that conventional dating leads to unsuccessful marriages, because couples focus more on the dating experience itself than getting to know each other in a way that would lead to an informed decision to marry.

Though Clay is now a devoted Christian, he was formerly a wild fraternity guy, and believes that sexual temptation can be powerful enough to warrant strict personal rules, such as refusing to be alone with a woman on private property. Amber feels that Clay’s views are too restrictive, but she is willing to comply and begin a courtship with him. The big question is whether the differences between them are wide enough to stop the courtship from leading to marriage.

From a Biblical perspective, this movie evokes the message of Romans 14, which is about respecting the convictions of other people’s consciences by not judging them for their cautiousness, and not engaging in offending activities in front of them that could entice them to deny their convictions. In the movie, Amber makes fun of Clay at first, but she later gains respect for his conscience and realizes that it would be wrong to try to change him, even if she is not personally adopting his views.

One thing which surprises me is that, although Clay is greatly concerned with avoiding premature marriage commitments, he does not seem concerned about knowing Amber’s positions on doctrinal matters, despite her statement that she believes in God but does not believe everything in the Bible. In my opinion, if marriage is under consideration, the theological differences between them could have more implications for compatibility than many things that Clay questions her about.

From storytelling and moviemaking standpoints, “Old Fashioned” has some weaknesses, but it is good enough to convey its message. The only negative elements for me are the movie’s occasional, exaggerated attempts to look “relevant.” In contrast to Clay’s extremely conservative lifestyle, other people in the town exhibit “cool” attitudes to a degree that I found annoying. The characters of Clay and Amber are somewhat lacking in depth, but their initially-stereotypical personalities do round out some by the end. Considering the screen time, the plot would be stronger if it had more events, but the movie can probably keep audiences engaged due to Amber’s and Clay’s interactions.

All things considered, this is a nice movie that I would recommend for those who like romance films.

Objectionable Content?

Sexual Content: No explicit dialog or imagery, but the script includes the word “sex” multiple times, with discussion of premarital sex and pregnancy. Most of this dialog pertains to Clay’s and Amber’s pasts. Two secondary characters live together before marriage and have a child. The story includes a couple attempts at seduction, but they are thwarted. One scene shows Amber in a bathtub, although you only see her head and the top of her shoulders. There is also a somewhat-humorous suggestion that a person may be gay. The film also has several short kissing scenes.

Language: Three “Good Lord” exclamations and one “God forbid,” one use of “cr*p,” and a few instances of name-calling (stupid, idiot).

Violence: A scene of physical aggression between characters.

Alcohol use: Several bar scenes.

Other: A radio show has some sexist broadcasts, but the movie portrays this negatively.

Violence: Minor / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Moderate

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative