by Josh Sewell
Faith-based movies tend to fall flat with mainstream (or “secular,” to use evangelical lingo) audiences for several reasons. The biggest one is Christian filmmakers often start with a specific sermon first, then craft roles designed to serve as mouthpieces for the biblical points they want to make. That’s the antithesis of film as an art form, which is more concerned with characters evolving in an authentic way, even if the genre isn’t all that realistic (such as sci-fi, musicals or romcoms).
The second reason is when the message is paramount, elements like good acting and competent filmmaking often take a backseat. That’s fine when you’re preaching to the choir, but it also explains why this kind of movie rarely breaks through to non-churchgoing folks. That’s not necessarily a criticism, though.
Some flicks aren’t interested in appealing to everyone. They know they’re designed for a specific audience and craft their product accordingly, whether it’s horror, romcoms, or raunchy comedy. Church people like movies too, and that’s who this kind of filmmaker designs their stuff for.
But it’s also why a movie like Jesus Revolution is so frustrating. The acting is strong – that tends to happen when your most prominent cast member has won multiple Emmys, Golden Globes, and SAG awards – but the story itself takes far too many shortcuts and speaks a language foreign to anyone who hasn’t grown up in church. If you’re looking to convert people straddling the fence, it probably does the job. But if you’re looking for massive box office success, well… I guess time will tell.
Inspired by true events (despite some glaring omissions – more on that later), “Jesus Revolution” tells the story of Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) a 1960s teen forced to grow up too soon because he’s taking care of his alcoholic mother (Kimberly Williams-Paisley). In the age of hippies and free love, he and his friends descend on sunny Southern California to find their version of truth (via plenty of drugs).
As he plummets toward rock bottom, Laurie meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie-turned-preacher, and Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), pastor of a dying local church that has opened its doors to an unusual demographic in an effort to stay relevant. Their relationship, and the massive number of people it influences, becomes the greatest spiritual awakening of the 20th century.
For the first hour or so, I was surprised. Co-directors Brent McCorkle and Jon Erwin (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Gunn, based on Laurie’s memoir) seem to be crafting a historical drama rather than a gospel tract. Eventually, however, that gives way to a far more syrupy, clichéd second half. It’s textbook bait-and-switch, which less cynical viewers might respond to more positively than I did.
That’s when Jesus Revolution pivots to the churchgoing audience who rewarded the creative team behind American Underdog, I Still Believe and I Can Only Imagine so well. In case you’re wondering about the level of subtlety, the first hippie Laurie meets is a charismatic bearded fellow named Charlie. The second one is a beautiful Kate Hudson lookalike (Anna Grace Barlow) who eventually becomes his fiancée. That’s the whole spectrum.
What’s more, the depiction of teens on drugs is straight out of a 1980s after school special, which means we obviously get to see someone OD the first time they partake. Granted, that lack of subtlety also results in a visually remarkable depiction of Laurie’s baptism, as well as a powerful moment of Smith washing hippies’ feet – serving as both devotion to his new attendees and a holy middle finger to the more judgmental members of his congregation.
They’re two of the best scenes in the movie. But they also occur after Laurie’s character becomes the dividing line between bad hippies (those who do drugs) and good hippies (those who love Jesus), so the sledgehammer-level messaging gives and takes.
From a filmmaking perspective, Akis Konstantakopoulos’ cinematography captures the sun-kissed beauty of ’60s California in wonderfully nostalgic hues. Plus, the soundtrack is of full of era-appropriate needle drops. I have to assume most of the film’s budget went to music clearances.
When it comes to performances, Grammer is the clear standout, but that’s what happens when you hire a ringer to headline the cast. He’s going for “what if Frasier Crane was a preacher?” which, I have to say, works in the context of the movie’s wacky sitcom approach to the hippies-versus-squares dynamic. Williams-Paisley and Jackson Robert Scott (best known as the ill-fated Georgie in the recent IT movies) are also solid, showing up intermittently in melodrama-heavy flashbacks. However, they feel disconnected from the rest of the film, despite filling in Laurie’s backstory.
But the most poignant aspect of Jesus Revolution is the brief appearance of Shaun Weiss as a drug-addicted, disabled Vietnam vet who finds his life transformed thanks to Smith and Frisbee’s ministry. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because the actor is best known for playing Goldberg the goalie in the classic Disney Mighty Ducks trilogy.
However, he fell on hard times in recent years, succumbing to addiction and mental health issues. When his mug shot made national news a while back, fans were shocked to see an emaciated, toothless face where the chubby, adorable child actor’s devilish grin used to be. Thanks to loved ones and fans, he got the help he needed and the filmmakers, inspired by his real-life battle, asked him to return to acting to play a similar character. He’s only in a couple of scenes, but it sure is good to see him.
As someone who grew up in churches directly inspired by this movement, watching Jesus Revolution was heartbreaking in one respect. Seeing these people’s lives transformed crushed me when I realized how the titular revolution has been co-opted throughout the decades by those who are more interested in political power and financial gain than reaching the outcasts and the spiritually hungry.
Look no further than how this film depicts Frisbee. Roumie is terrific, but how the filmmakers treat his character is frustratingly reductive. The second half of the story turns him into a stereotypical fame-hungry fallen hero. But there’s a significant element of Frisbee that the movie completely ignores: his life as a semi-closeted gay man and his death from AIDS-related complications in 1993. This component of Frisbee’s existence was pretty much an open secret among those who associated with him, but Jesus Revolution pretends it never existed.
That is the epitome of Erwin and McCorkle’s attempt to oversimplify a story far more complex than the cut-and-dry version being conveyed to their primary ticket buyers who prefer easy answers. Shades of gray don’t go over well with that audience, which is likely why Jesus Revolution ignores the more controversial aspects of Smith’s ministry, including his prediction that Jesus would return in 1981 and the world would end.
Nevertheless, the movie’s target demo will overlook those faults and general moviegoers probably won’t notice unless they’re nerds who track down the protagonists’ Wikipedia pages after the fact (like the guy writing this review). Still, I bet the box office success of Jesus Revolution will come as a shock to mainstream entertainment reporters who always seem stunned that evangelical audiences will turn out in droves when a movie appeals to their sensibilities.
Jesus Revolution is rated PG-13 for strong drug content involving teens and some thematic elements. Opens in theaters on February 24.
Grade: C
The second reason is when the message is paramount, elements like good acting and competent filmmaking often take a backseat. That’s fine when you’re preaching to the choir, but it also explains why this kind of movie rarely breaks through to non-churchgoing folks. That’s not necessarily a criticism, though.
Some flicks aren’t interested in appealing to everyone. They know they’re designed for a specific audience and craft their product accordingly, whether it’s horror, romcoms, or raunchy comedy. Church people like movies too, and that’s who this kind of filmmaker designs their stuff for.
But it’s also why a movie like Jesus Revolution is so frustrating. The acting is strong – that tends to happen when your most prominent cast member has won multiple Emmys, Golden Globes, and SAG awards – but the story itself takes far too many shortcuts and speaks a language foreign to anyone who hasn’t grown up in church. If you’re looking to convert people straddling the fence, it probably does the job. But if you’re looking for massive box office success, well… I guess time will tell.
Inspired by true events (despite some glaring omissions – more on that later), “Jesus Revolution” tells the story of Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) a 1960s teen forced to grow up too soon because he’s taking care of his alcoholic mother (Kimberly Williams-Paisley). In the age of hippies and free love, he and his friends descend on sunny Southern California to find their version of truth (via plenty of drugs).
As he plummets toward rock bottom, Laurie meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie-turned-preacher, and Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), pastor of a dying local church that has opened its doors to an unusual demographic in an effort to stay relevant. Their relationship, and the massive number of people it influences, becomes the greatest spiritual awakening of the 20th century.
For the first hour or so, I was surprised. Co-directors Brent McCorkle and Jon Erwin (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Gunn, based on Laurie’s memoir) seem to be crafting a historical drama rather than a gospel tract. Eventually, however, that gives way to a far more syrupy, clichéd second half. It’s textbook bait-and-switch, which less cynical viewers might respond to more positively than I did.
That’s when Jesus Revolution pivots to the churchgoing audience who rewarded the creative team behind American Underdog, I Still Believe and I Can Only Imagine so well. In case you’re wondering about the level of subtlety, the first hippie Laurie meets is a charismatic bearded fellow named Charlie. The second one is a beautiful Kate Hudson lookalike (Anna Grace Barlow) who eventually becomes his fiancée. That’s the whole spectrum.
What’s more, the depiction of teens on drugs is straight out of a 1980s after school special, which means we obviously get to see someone OD the first time they partake. Granted, that lack of subtlety also results in a visually remarkable depiction of Laurie’s baptism, as well as a powerful moment of Smith washing hippies’ feet – serving as both devotion to his new attendees and a holy middle finger to the more judgmental members of his congregation.
They’re two of the best scenes in the movie. But they also occur after Laurie’s character becomes the dividing line between bad hippies (those who do drugs) and good hippies (those who love Jesus), so the sledgehammer-level messaging gives and takes.
From a filmmaking perspective, Akis Konstantakopoulos’ cinematography captures the sun-kissed beauty of ’60s California in wonderfully nostalgic hues. Plus, the soundtrack is of full of era-appropriate needle drops. I have to assume most of the film’s budget went to music clearances.
When it comes to performances, Grammer is the clear standout, but that’s what happens when you hire a ringer to headline the cast. He’s going for “what if Frasier Crane was a preacher?” which, I have to say, works in the context of the movie’s wacky sitcom approach to the hippies-versus-squares dynamic. Williams-Paisley and Jackson Robert Scott (best known as the ill-fated Georgie in the recent IT movies) are also solid, showing up intermittently in melodrama-heavy flashbacks. However, they feel disconnected from the rest of the film, despite filling in Laurie’s backstory.
But the most poignant aspect of Jesus Revolution is the brief appearance of Shaun Weiss as a drug-addicted, disabled Vietnam vet who finds his life transformed thanks to Smith and Frisbee’s ministry. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because the actor is best known for playing Goldberg the goalie in the classic Disney Mighty Ducks trilogy.
However, he fell on hard times in recent years, succumbing to addiction and mental health issues. When his mug shot made national news a while back, fans were shocked to see an emaciated, toothless face where the chubby, adorable child actor’s devilish grin used to be. Thanks to loved ones and fans, he got the help he needed and the filmmakers, inspired by his real-life battle, asked him to return to acting to play a similar character. He’s only in a couple of scenes, but it sure is good to see him.
As someone who grew up in churches directly inspired by this movement, watching Jesus Revolution was heartbreaking in one respect. Seeing these people’s lives transformed crushed me when I realized how the titular revolution has been co-opted throughout the decades by those who are more interested in political power and financial gain than reaching the outcasts and the spiritually hungry.
Look no further than how this film depicts Frisbee. Roumie is terrific, but how the filmmakers treat his character is frustratingly reductive. The second half of the story turns him into a stereotypical fame-hungry fallen hero. But there’s a significant element of Frisbee that the movie completely ignores: his life as a semi-closeted gay man and his death from AIDS-related complications in 1993. This component of Frisbee’s existence was pretty much an open secret among those who associated with him, but Jesus Revolution pretends it never existed.
That is the epitome of Erwin and McCorkle’s attempt to oversimplify a story far more complex than the cut-and-dry version being conveyed to their primary ticket buyers who prefer easy answers. Shades of gray don’t go over well with that audience, which is likely why Jesus Revolution ignores the more controversial aspects of Smith’s ministry, including his prediction that Jesus would return in 1981 and the world would end.
Nevertheless, the movie’s target demo will overlook those faults and general moviegoers probably won’t notice unless they’re nerds who track down the protagonists’ Wikipedia pages after the fact (like the guy writing this review). Still, I bet the box office success of Jesus Revolution will come as a shock to mainstream entertainment reporters who always seem stunned that evangelical audiences will turn out in droves when a movie appeals to their sensibilities.
Jesus Revolution is rated PG-13 for strong drug content involving teens and some thematic elements. Opens in theaters on February 24.
Grade: C
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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