"Relationship Goals," the new Amazon MGM film adapted from a sermon-turned-book and now a big-budget romantic comedy, aims to reframe modern faith and romance by putting relationships, not material success, at the center of its message. The movie, starring Kelly Rowland, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, and Robin Thede, premieres on Prime Video this week.
Pastor Michael Todd, who authored the New York Times bestseller that serves as the foundation for the film, said the biblical principles in the book were first presented to his own church before they were published.
"The heart was to add value to people," he said. What began in his church evolved into a journey that filmmakers hoped would resonate beyond pews and pulpits.
"This started off as a sermon series in our church, and we saw that it resonated a lot with people, and it helped them make moves, and we turned it into a book," Todd said. "And then, because of the amazing foresight of my brother DeVon (Franklin), we got connected, and six years later, here we are with a movie."
Todd said the film is intended as a hope-filled antidote to a culture currently struggling.
"I think this is the perfect time for this type of movie to come out, where everything's so heavy, and people have stopped hoping," he said. "We want people to actually aim at the relationships that they desire, because, at the end of the day, nobody says, 'I need more money' when they die. They want the people that they were in a relationship with around them, and we need to aim better at relationship goals."
GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter and actress Kelly Rowland ("Mea Culpa") plays Leah Caldwell, the film's lead. The multitalented artist, who began her career as part of the iconic Destiny's Child, said she was drawn to the project by its honest, human characters.
"I love that about these characters is that they're so honest," she said. "Treese in her walk, in her single walk. You know the fact that Leah is dealing with this great grief and holding on tight to everything around her—when she literally has to just open up her hands for all of God's blessings—to Jarrett (Smith), being ready for his woman in his life, and he knows what his past was like. I think that it's so much to take from this film and from these characters and from their stories."
She emphasized that the film's characters offer viewers more than entertainment.
"It's so much to take from this film and from these characters and from their stories, and then chewing on them and tasting them a little bit more and then putting them into your life. It just is the gift that keeps on giving."
Rowland pointed to one particularly emotional sequence as a highlight of her experience on set—a scene where Leah visits her mother's grave.
"That was, transparently speaking, me laying some of my burdens down with my mom, and that grief down," she explained. "After you've held it together for so long, you're like, 'Oh no, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.' It's only so many 'fines,' then you get to actually pour it all out. And it felt like I could just pour it all out, and I felt safe to do so."
Producer DeVon Franklin ("Miracles From Heaven," "Breakthrough," "Ruth and Boaz"), who shepherded the project from book to screen, said translating faith-based material into mainstream entertainment required both fidelity to the source material and creative evolution.
"The spearheading was really about making sure we were staying faithful and then also developing a fun story and entertaining story with great characters," Franklin said. He described a lengthy development process that included reworking storylines and even changing the film's ending to serve the narrative better. "It took years of work, as a matter of fact, and developing it and redeveloping it."
Franklin, who just released the audiobook "From Breakthrough to Breakdown" on Audible, also framed the film as part of a broader movement he calls a "Faith Renaissance" in entertainment.
"I want to make movies that can appeal to all different segments, so that everyone's faith can be represented," he said. He noted the importance of diversity in faith storytelling: "Most of the projects tended to be less diverse, you know. And so, for me, I've been able to make all different types of movies in this space, and to be able to show there's diversity, and there's a spectrum."
Grounded realism was a central goal for the filmmakers, including the backbone of Christian faith. Todd said filming included scenes shot at his own church, Transformation Church in Tulsa, as actual worship was happening.
"Most times when you see any church scene in any movie, it's cheesy, it's corny, manipulative, it feels broke, and that's not our reality," he said. "That wasn't fake, that wasn't extras, that was our church. They came on a Sunday morning."
Todd suggested that a genuine depiction might invite viewers with worn or complex faith histories to return to spiritual communities.
"Maybe that helps bring them back to faith," he said.
Rowland, who has balanced a music career with acting, said both crafts feed the same creative impulse. "It's all creative," she said. "When you're writing a song or writing a script, it's still like, using all of those things to just like, execute it." The result, she added, is a project that can be both entertaining and inspirational.
"Relationship Goals," directed by Linda Mendoza and starring Kelly Rowland, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, Robin Thede, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, and Matt Walsh, premieres globally on Prime Video February 4.
