To Save a Life
After a friend's suicide shatters his polished teenage life, a popular basketball player pursues faith and accountability amid family betrayal, pregnancy, and peer rejection.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- earnest
- poignant
- inspirational
- youth group discussion
- faith-based movie night
What critics said
Critics generally found the film earnest and occasionally poignant but weakened by heavy-handed religious messaging and exploitative treatment of difficult teen issues.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Jake's grief leads him toward Christianity and a re-evaluation of his relationships, behavior, and responsibilities.
The plot begins with a childhood friend's suicide and repeatedly focuses on whether Jake could have intervened or helped.
A youth minister directs Jake toward God, while the narrative frames repentance, forgiveness, and Christian community as central solutions.
Jake's popularity, basketball identity, beer-pong culture, and former friends' ridicule all obstruct his attempt to change.
Films like To Save a Life, and why
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
teen drama centered on grief, peer pressure, substance use, and difficult moral choices
Bang Bang You're Dead
serious high-school drama addressing alienation, bullying, and the consequences of social exclusion
October Baby
faith-oriented coming-of-age drama about troubled young people, redemption, and community responsibility
Movie Details
- Director
- Brian Baugh
- Release Date
- 2009-11-05
- Runtime
- 120 min
- Rating
- 6.3 / 10 (67)
Cast
- Randy Wayne
- Deja Kreutzberg
- Joshua Weigel
- Robert Bailey Jr.
- Bubba Lewis
- Kimberly Daugherty
- Sean Michael Afable
- David Starzyk
- Laura Black
- Steven Crowder
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, ALLBLK, UP Faith & Family Apple TV channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, UP Faith & Family Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video
- Buy
- Amazon Video
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is To Save a Life about?
- After a friend's suicide shatters his polished teenage life, a popular basketball player pursues faith and accountability amid family betrayal, pregnancy, and peer rejection.
- What is To Save a Life like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of To Save a Life as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is To Save a Life violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in To Save a Life as mild.
- What did critics think of To Save a Life?
- Critics generally found the film earnest and occasionally poignant but weakened by heavy-handed religious messaging and exploitative treatment of difficult teen issues.
- Which films are like To Save a Life?
- Films with a similar feel include The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bang Bang You're Dead, and October Baby.
- How long is To Save a Life?
- To Save a Life runs 120 minutes.
- Where can I watch To Save a Life?
- In United States, To Save a Life streams on Amazon Prime Video, ALLBLK, UP Faith & Family Apple TV channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, UP Faith & Family Amazon Channel .
