The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Letters to God
Drama · Family · 2010
A young boy fighting cancer writes letters to God, touching lives in his neighborhood and inspiring hope among everyone he comes in contact. An unsuspecting substitute postman, with a troubled life of his own, becomes entangled in the boy's journey and his family by reading the letters. They inspire him to seek a better life for himself and his own son he's lost through his alcohol addiction.
Movie details
Letters to God
“Given the right address, anything is possible.”
2010 Drama · Family 1h 50m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.2 / 10
5.4K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
26 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
31 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.9 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A young boy fighting cancer writes letters to God, touching lives in his neighborhood and inspiring hope among everyone he comes in contact. An unsuspecting substitute postman, with a troubled life of his own, becomes entangled in the boy's journey and his family by reading the letters. They inspire him to seek a better life for himself and his own son he's lost through his alcohol addiction.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Letters to God?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
The Shack
Drama · 2017
A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called 'The Shack'.
The Unbreakable Boy
Family · 2025
When Scott and Teresa LeRette learn that their son Austin is both autistic and has brittle bone disease, they initially worry for their son’s future. But with Scott’s growing faith and Austin’s incredible spirit, they become 'unbreakable', finding joy, gratitude, and courage even in the most trying times.
90 Minutes in Heaven
Drama · 2015
A man involved in a horrific car crash is pronounced dead, only to come back to life an hour and a half later, claiming to have seen Heaven.
Come Sunday
Drama · 2018
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Dear Evan Hansen
Drama · 2021
Evan Hansen, a high schooler with social anxiety, unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who committed suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.
Starving in Suburbia
Drama · 2014
When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?
God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
Drama · 2018
Pastor Dave responds to the unimaginable tragedy of having his church, located on the grounds of the local university, burned down.
The Children Act
Drama · 2018
In the midst of a marital crisis, a High Court judge must decide if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a teen with cancer despite his family's refusal to accept medical treatment for religious reasons.
Heaven Is for Real
Drama · 2014
After their young son, Colton, undergoes emergency surgery, small-town parents Todd and Sonja Burpo are overjoyed at the child's miraculous recovery. However, the Burpos are unprepared for what happens next... Colton says that during his surgery he went to heaven and back, and tells his parents things that he couldn't possibly know. Can Todd find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world?
The Starling
Drama · 2021
A woman adjusting to life after a loss contends with a feisty bird that's taken over her garden — and a husband who's struggling to find a way forward.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
David Nixon · Patrick Doughtie
Written by
Art D'Alessandro
Tanner Maguire
Tyler Doherty
Jeffrey Johnson
Brady McDaniels
Robyn Lively
Maddy Doherty
Bailee Madison
Samantha Perryfield
Maree Cheatham
Olivia
Michael Bolten
Ben Doherty
Ralph Waite
Mr. Perryfield
Court is in session
Put Letters to God on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.