the marriage in the Fireproof movie isn't

I saw the movie Fireproof a few months back and wasn't as impressed as the greater Christian community seems to be. Although I know it set out to do the opposite, I think it leaves the audience with a distorted view of the nature of marriage.

People I've talked to are inspired by the movie, expecting the main characters to stay married. But to me, it's not at all clear that their relationship going forward won't still be built upon a foundation of sand.

I have no beefs with the husband. He admirably stepped up to the plate and worked on issues in his life and in his marriage.

But we see his wife leave when (and because) her husband's behavior resides on the "worse" side of the "for better or for worse" ledger, and return when his behavior improves. The wife's transformation, if you want to call it that, comes across to me as merely a response to being loved and pursued. Perhaps she actually responded to her husband's change by repenting of her unfaithfulness and her embrace of a worldly, conditional view of marriage (as her husband did). But we aren't shown that.

That detail, I would argue, is pivotal. It is the difference between pursuing happiness and pursuing what's right. Those that place happiness over doing what's right are not likely going to stay married. "For better or for worse" becomes "as long as things are going well." And I have yet to hear of a marriage that hasn't had periods of "worse."

Regarding where we leave the couple at the end of the film: What is going to happen when their second honeymoon phase is over? The movie seems to imply that becoming a Christian means the honeymoon won't end. But that simply isn't true.

There is no substitute for willfully keeping one's vows in spite of the temptation to do otherwise. In the husband's case, we see that Christ empowered him to do that. We don't see that in his wife.