In the aftermath of a huge scandal, Trinitie Childs, the first lady of a prominent Southern Baptist Mega Church, attempts to help her pastor-husband, Lee-Curtis Childs, rebuild their congregation.
The two stars I awarded for this film were mainly intended for the actors, including the two outstanding leads, Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown. Both have long strings of acting credits, too noteworthy and long to mention. Among many other recognized performances, Brown had a starring role in the television series “This Is Us,” for which he became the first African-American actor to win a Golden Globe in the Best Actor in a Television Drama category.
Ms. Hall, too, has a long list of appearances, awards, and nominations in films such as “Support the Girls” and “Nine Perfect Strangers.” Her role as Trinitie Childs in the current movie requires some depth of understanding and love for her errant husband, even as she is constantly subjected to the nagging little feeling that she is betting on a losing horse and should cut her losses and run. Just as she is about to come to that conclusion, her mother comes to “comfort” her and provide some badly wanted guidance for her. Unfortunately, dear mom does the exact opposite, saying she stayed with her husband when he strayed until she finally “buried him.”
Mr. As the pastor of a Southern Baptist megachurch that once served thousands, Brown commands comedic attention and sadness. As we watch, it becomes clear it was not just the church that crumbled under the scathing headlines; it was his soul. He tries in vain and sometimes in ways meant to bring laughter, to gather his flock back together. As an actor, he grips and holds our attention.
However, the film is never as good as its two leading actors. Also, as competent and potent as they are, they are led down too many roads in the writing to ever bring the multi-themed story to any satisfying denouement. I realize this is Ms. Ebo’s directorial debut. I read an interview she did with her twin sister, Adanne, regarding the theme and purpose of the film. While I did see some of what she referenced as the essential elements the story followed, I couldn’t follow her line of thought based on what I saw, heard, and experienced as I watched the film.
First, there were too many subplots, and following them was confusing. We, as the audience, were told the pastor and his wife were having the camera crew film their daily lives to hopefully bring most of their old congregants back to their church. Then, there was the story of the rival church that took advantage of the scandal and busily lured congregants from the Childs’ church to theirs. We were led to believe the pastor was a charlatan who was only marginally involved in the church as a spiritual leader but totally engulfed in the perks that the money from a megachurch had been bringing him. Later, however, when he glimpses the damage of his inappropriate sexual involvement with young men in the church, he realizes, to some extent, the damage he has caused. This leads him to more desperate measures to seek forgiveness and redemption, bringing more souls to Christ.
The scenes of Pastor Childs and his First Lady, dressed in Sunday best, out on the edge of a busy highway, being filmed (we must not forget the film they are making, even though that plot point keeps getting in the way and causing mix-ups) sporting signs that say HONK FOR JESUS is not funny, but very sad. I wondered as the scandal involved young men/boys, why was he not arrested? Charged? They never addressed that. Another plot points dead end, even though the distress his inappropriate relationships caused was vividly portrayed.
I saw one story about this film refer to it as a “mockumentary,” part mocking the megachurches as being “all about money” and part revering to the real experiences of congregants in black churches across the South. Mocking over the top leaders of the megachurches is funny, but in that regard, Ms. Ebo did not turn her characters into caricatures as her aim seemed to be to keep them real people in desperate circumstances, which isn’t funny at all in this case.
A word about the scene in which Pastor Childs insists his wife don the white face and makeup of a mime. I was totally lost. I had never heard of “praise-miming,” though I suppose others in the audience did as it is a praise ritual practiced in some black churches. I looked it up, and the video performances I saw were beautiful. I just couldn’t fit it into its place in this film.
Then there was the ending. I won’t spoil things for future audiences, but I asked other audience members as we left, “What did you think about the ending?” Most were left clueless, though one woman said she thought it left a big opening for a sequel. She was probably more intelligent than all the rest of us! I guess time will tell.
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