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September 26, 2014
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Believe Me: Nick Offerman, Lacrae Cannot Save its Satirical Soul
— Posted by
Kenny Miles
Believe Me the cynical satire on modern, money-hungry, mega-church Christianity is a half-hearted, shallow indictment on soulless American congregations that doesn’t quite work. This is too bad, because it had a lot going for it. Sam is a dynamic speaker void of theology encouraging people to give money is taken to the next level here. This time, he wants the money to pay for his last semester of college that he owes his university. Nick Offerman delivers a very good cameo role. The deadpan stare was great! Sam convinces his friends to get in on the scheme because “Saving Africa is as popular to Christians as Jesus himself.” is a dynamic speaker delivering a prayer “ripped off from Jerry Maguire.”
At times, Believe Me is more jaded than Saved, but not as sharp on critiquing Christian culture. At times, it almost affirms it. There is a montage about Christians that comes across as thinking too hard about how to be Christian. The best honest moment near these scenes came in a line when Sam was preaching, (“I know I’m going to get an email about this, but he is kind of ‘an a-hole.’”) This movie makes a statement that well-spoken men with shallow theology can convince many believers to do anything within their power.
Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae who has the number on album on Billboard right now has a howling cameo mocking cheesy Christian movies. As a Christian artist, he knows the sub-genre of mass entertainment produced for Christians is subpar and knowing this pretty much winks at the camera every second he is on screen. It was good to see him. This genre doesn’t reflect reality in movies like God’s Not Dead and Persecuted. Audiences deserve more realism and complexity with their faith. That is a direction Believe Me should have taken instead of ultimately pandering to an audience it never really lured in to begin with an ending disconnected from the rest of the movie.
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who has written 299 posts on The Movie Blog Whether something is overlooked by Hollywood or whatever business trend has captured the Entertainment Industry’s attention, Kenny Miles loves to talk about movies (especially the cultural impact of a film). He covers various aspects of movies including specialty genre films, limited release, independent, foreign language, documentary features, and THE much infamous "awards season." Also, he likes to offer his opinion on the business of film, marketing strategy, and branding. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado and is a member of the Denver Film Critics Society critics group. When he isn’t writing, Kenny channels his passion for interacting with moviegoers (something most movie pundits lack) as a pollster for the market research company CinemaScore and working as floor staff/special events coordinator in the film community. You can follow him on Twitter @kmiles723. visit author's website | Contact the Author
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