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Grade: B-

Verdict: An uneven but entertaining look at the former PTL diva.

Details: A documentary about Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, narrated by RuPaul Charles. Rated PG-13 for some sexual content. 1 hour, 19 minutes.

See it: Oxford theaters and showtimes for [an error occurred while processing this directive] The Eyes of Tammy Faye

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Review: Raccoon-eyed from mascara and a double set of false lashes, dazed from prescription drugs and studio lights, Tammy Faye Bakker was a cheerful-spooky icon of the '80s.

A crying, Jesus-loves-you kewpie doll you alternately wanted to hug and throttle, she chirped and sang praise and tirelessly worked with her husband, Jim, for their theme-park ministry, whose success would be their undoing. She came across as a stumpy drag queen in the throes of religious ecstasy.

The rise and fall of the PTL Club and the Bakkers' marriage makes a fascinating story. But somewhere along the way, directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato turned the subject of their documentary into its mascot.

Often captivating and informative, but full of gaps and lacking key interviews, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" is a lot like its central figure: sometimes engaging, sometimes infuriating.

For infuriating, let's start with the sock puppets that introduce each segment of the flick (with titles like "A Star Is Born" and "The (Expletive) Hits the Fan"). Sure, the Bakkers started their "electric church" using hand puppets, but these arch interludes, used like the singing mice in "Babe," become arbitrarily campy.

The device becomes especially grating as "Eyes" charts the phenomenal expansion of PTL, the construction of Heritage U.S.A. near Charlotte and the expulsion of the Bakkers from their own ministry through a combination of Jim's dalliance with Jessica Hahn and backdoor manipulations by Jerry Falwell.

Falwell comes off especially badly, a Machiavelli using the Bakkers' own media empire against them. Pat Boone underscores this by describing modern Christian leadership as "an army that kills our wounded." Ouch.

Pat Robertson, Falwell and Hahn all declined to be interviewed for "Eyes," along with another couple accused of pushing the Bakkers out of their first TV ministry.

You can't blame them, but it makes the documentary lopsided. The movie gets revenge on Hahn by showing a clip of her Playboy video, rolling around half-naked with a crucifix while intoning on the audio, "I would just like people to know the real me."

The movie also deals with Tammy Faye's drug addiction, which caused her to ramble hazily around the PTL set while the cameras ran, culminating in her woozy attempt to walk out of a plane at 30,000 feet.

"Eyes" benefits from interviews with Jim Bakker, and his children with Tammy Faye, Jamie Bakker and Tammy Sue Bakker Chapman. The kids' memories of the media turmoil that engulfed them during the PTL scandal helps humanize the family. So does Tammy Faye's bout with cancer, which brought her closer to the runaway Tammy Sue.

More importantly, we get a glimpse of what made Tammy Faye more than just a Bible-thumping Kathie Lee: She took risks, among other things being the first in television evangelism to discuss and reach out to gay men with AIDS.

"I don't label people. I refuse to label people," Tammy Faye says on a visit to her one-time talk-show partner, the gay comic Jim J. Bullock. "God didn't make any junk."

Toward the end, the filmmakers content themselves with hanging out with Tammy Faye as she gets glam head shots made by celeb photographer Greg Gorman, dumbfounding a makeup artist who discovers that her lips and eyes are permanently lined. Even in the bizarre world of Hollywood, she stands out as, um, different. She makes the studio rounds, pitching series ideas ("Tammy's Terrific Teens") to Steven Chao, hipper-than-thou president of USA Cable, who patronizes her as if she's just beamed in from Mars. Other executives don't return her calls. The film wraps up with her reunion with second husband Roe Messner, the contractor who built Heritage U.S.A., then was jailed.

Despite its unevenness, the film conveys Tammy Faye's mix of delicacy and steely resilience, and it's always watchable. "Roaches, Tammy Faye and Cher" are Bullock's nominees for those most likely to survive a holocaust. You believe him. The success of "Eyes" is in convincing you that Tammy Faye is worthy of a documentary. But in doing so, it makes you wish for one more thorough and objective than this.

— Steve Murray, Cox News Service

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