Heaven Is for Real

Greg Kinnear gives one of his most grounded performances as Todd Burpo, a Nebraska pastor and wrestling coach barely keeping his family afloat. The film's smartest move is making the father the protagonist rather than the child. Todd doesn't simply accept his son's claims — he wrestles with them, fears the attention, worries about exploitation. That internal conflict gives the story far more texture than the book it's based on. Connor Corum as young Colton is natural and unforced, which is critical because a bad child performance would have sunk the whole thing. The small-town setting feels authentic, not condescending — the church board's skepticism is portrayed as reasonable rather than villainous. Where the film pulls its punches is in never seriously engaging with alternative explanations for Colton's experience. A braver film might have let that ambiguity breathe more. But as a family-friendly exploration of faith, death, and what comes after, it handles big questions with more grace than you'd expect from a studio adaptation of a bestselling Christian book.