A sort-of satire on the recent wave of mainstream religious hits courtesy companies like Pure Flix and personalities including David A.R. White, "Jesus, Bro!" is an entertaining and often laugh-out- loud parody from the same geniuses that brought us the popular movie- review series "The Cinema Snob." With some great laughs, likable leads and plenty of nice callbacks for fans of the Snob and other related web- series, it definitely comes highly recommended from me. And while I could bemoan a few strange and awkward moments that don't quite add up and more than a few instances of the production being hampered by an incredibly tight budget (primarily raised through a crowd-funding campaign that I happily contributed to myself), I think there's a lot of charm and good-will on display that more than makes up for any shortcomings. And I think that when it comes to such independent affairs... charm and good will on the part of filmmakers is a key to success.
David Gobble stars as Rick Whitehead, an incredibly popular internet atheist vlogger who learns that he's set to win the prestigious "Atheist of the Year" award. Unfortunately, things take a bit of a turn for the worse as his gruff attitude leads to the end of his long- time relationship with religious girlfriend Elizabeth (Allison Pregler) and he suffers a near-death experience after drinking beer brewed with holy water... After learning that his life is a lie and that God and Jesus are very-much real (and that Jesus evidently likes to dress as "Santa Christ"), Rick must go on a spiritual quest to use his internet fame to convert his millions of followers and try to win Elizabeth back at any cost.
In a lot of ways, the film is very much tailor-made for fans of those involved, particularly co-writer/co-producer/co-star and Cinema Snob himself Brad Jones and his other alum from Channel Awesome. It's a great bit of fun seeing performers like Pregler, Doug and Rob Walker and some other surprise cameos in supporting roles and it gives the whole feature a sort-of laid-back "let's put on a show!" vibe that I enjoyed. You get the feeling that everyone involved is having a blast and are all getting along splendidly behind the scenes, and it's a delightfully infectious feeling when you watch it. I can't help but wonder if this might be lost on those who are unfamiliar with the cast and the crew, but to me, it really helped elevate the film.
Director and co-writer Ryan Mitchelle does an admirable job in his visual guidance with the material, and despite an oft-obvious lack of major funding, is able to make the best with what he has. There's some really solid cinematography and keen use of framing that I appreciated (having seen my share of micro-budget features and over-produced student films back in my college Media- Arts days... you quickly learn to appreciate simple, concise direction), and the film is never dull with its generally good sense of pacing. I also found all of the performers to be quite good in their respective roles. Gobble is definitely quite likable and Pregler is a blast with some great recurring gags that I will not spoil. Fard Muhammad rounds out the lead cast as a good friend of Rick's who helps him on his quest, and he gets a lot of moments to shine. Add to that small roles by the amusing hams that are the Walker siblings and the rest of the cast and you got a great ensemble.
That praise being said, I do think that the film has some minor flaws that I can't help but address. I do think that at times it can either drag on too long or rush through things a bit too quickly. There's a few prolonged gags and sequences of dialog that could use a slight bit of trimming and a few major plot-points that could have used an extra minute or two to set-in. It's not a major flaw... but it is noticeable. I also think that in a few key sequences, they made a pretty common mistake when it comes to comedy... over-explaining the joke. And trust me, I get it. Trying to figure out what the audience is thinking is tricky. But I think it's better just to let a joke play-out without explanation and see if it lands or not rather than making the joke... then having another character reference the oddity of what happened.
Still, I'm pretty darned pleased by how "Jesus, Bro!" turned out. It's very much a film for the fans (and I'm judging it by that merit, since I think it would be unfair to analyze it otherwise), and I can't help but think that fellow followers of the Snob will definitely get a big kick out of it. Some of its humor and references might be lost on first-time viewers or people who are unaware of the material its lovingly mocking. But it's all in good fun, and it's a very charming micro-budget feature from a group of people who are trying their hardest to make us laugh. And for that, I give it a very good 8 out of 10.
