A VOICEOVER in Someone Like You (Cert. PG) erroneously attributes “If you love deeply, you’re going to get hurt badly but it’s still worth it” to C. S. Lewis. The film, financed by various Christian bodies, is primarily a faith testimony.

After London (Sarah Fisher), best friend of Dawson (Jake Allyn), tragically dies, he discovers a twin born to a different family after in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Neither knew this. Dawson somehow obtains confidential information that the sibling is Andi (Sarah Fisher, again). He doesn’t realise that she is unaware of this.

Everyone except London is a fervent Christian, and there are many references to prayer. Mainly set in Birmingham, Alabama, where almost 80 per cent of people are non-white, only a handful of the cast are so. Leading characters ooze affluence. They have the picket-gate fences, white clapboard mansions, expensive cars, and boats that David Lynch lampooned in Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks. Faith pays handsomely. The actors play their roles fairly convincingly, if occasionally a little too dewy-eyed. Only one was utterly irritating: cheesier than the burger that she was munching. Worse is an incessant soundtrack of gooey songs.

The film, adapted from the bestselling author Karen Kingsbury’s Christian novel, sometimes looks elsewhere for spiritual inspiration. London’s mother owns a bowl from her daughter. Based on Japanese Kintsugi philosophy, which asserts that nothing is ever truly broken, it has been made from smashed pottery. Yes, love hurts, but it’s all going to be worth it.

This film will appeal to some Christians. But it is questionable whether using Andi as a deus ex machina to solve everyone’s problems will win converts. It is a pity, also, that an issue as serious as cryopreservation is only a device to spoil smiling happy families’ day. Fortunately for them, someone comes to the rescue, assuring them that when the waves get big, they know who calms their storm.