The Case for Christ

Mike Vogel plays Lee Strobel with the right mix of arrogance and vulnerability. As a Chicago Tribune journalist in the early 1980s, Strobel is smart, successful, and genuinely threatened by his wife's newfound faith. The film works best when it plays to its strengths: the investigation. Strobel interviews archaeologists, medical doctors, and psychologists, and these scenes crackle with the energy of a good newsroom drama. Erika Christensen as Leslie Strobel gets less screen time but makes it count — her quiet faith is never preachy, and you understand why Lee finds it both attractive and infuriating. The period setting (1980s Chicago) is rendered with nice attention to detail. Faye Dunaway and Robert Forster appear in small but effective roles. The weakness is that the film telegraphs its ending from the first frame — we know Strobel will convert because the book jacket tells us so. But the journey is engaging enough to sustain the runtime, and the courtroom-style examination of evidence will satisfy viewers who want their faith films with intellectual rigor.