Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. (2022)

By: Mike Ward on Monday, September 12

R Running Time: 102 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • A clever approach to a timely story of malfeasance in the megachurch, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is a return of the mockumentary approach to storytelling.

  • Regina Hall is somehow still underrated as an actor and she is fantastic throughout the film.

  • The spectacle of the comedy falls away to a dramatic story that hints at greater depth, inspired, in part, by a true story.

NO

  • Ultimately, that depth is lacking. Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. never quite rounds the edges to create a truly balanced piece of satirical comedy and stinging drama.

  • Seems like the film is pulling punches when it should be hitting hard and tiptoes around a more interesting story within its narrative that would likely be more effective.

  • There is talent in spades here, which is why the film’s lack of finishing strong is something of a slight disappointment.


OUR REVIEW

Spirited, witty, thoughtful, but unable to fully close the deal, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is an entertaining mockumentary that looks at a married couple attempting to resurrect their prosperity gospel megachurch following a scandal involving charismatic lead pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown). With his dutiful wife Trinitie (Regina Hall) forever by his side, we join the godly servants as they try to pinpoint just when the right time might be to reopen their Wander to Greater Paths Baptist Church and ministry.

To frame this properly, to get us to care, the Childs need to be insanely wealthy. And that they are: a mansion that never ends, the finest cars, Lee-Curtis’ limitless amount of shirts, jackets, and dress shoes. When Trinitie drops hundreds of dollars on a hat, she feels justified in doing so. The scandals appear to have not necessarily impacted the bank account, but the worshippers seem to have found a new place to pray: Heaven’s House, founded by a young married couple (Nicole Beharie, Conphidance), who once were attendees at Wander to Greater Paths.

Adapted from her 2018 short film of the same name, writer/director Adamma Ebo has a novel approach to her feature-film debut. With Brown and Hall, she finds enigmatic, commanding characters who zealously work to build these characters from the inside/out. Or at least they try to. Ebo’s screenplay is heavy on the comedy and dry wit, less effective when finding a balance between the levity and the heft of the dramatic situations she infuses into her film. 

Still, there’s plenty of energy throughout. Hall, to what should be no one’s surprise, provides the heart of the film - a woman torn between embracing the superficiality she has come to rely on, versus the trauma she has endured in standing beside Lee-Curtis’ controversies. Not only is Hall able to have a great scene with any of her variety of scene partners, when the film calls for her to dig deep and provide emotional depth to her character’s situation, she more than delivers. In pancaked mime makeup no less. 

Brown is a ball of energy, constantly trying to find the optimism in everything the Childs have thrown at them. After a while, his inauthenticity becomes the point. Ebo seems at times to not fully grasp the complexities which come with the character she has created, though Brown tries to wring every last drop he can from unexplored elements of his story.

That this is a mockumentary may be a surprise to some. For others, the film’s curious decision to jump in and out of the mockumentary format and fall into a conventional fictional narrative may feel a bit overthought. The trick is looking at the aspect ratio. If the film is framed in widescreen, the narrative, or “behind-the-scenes” moments are occurring away from the cameras. In the tighter 1.85:1 aspect ratio, we are watching the documentary footage. Ebo and cinematographer Alan Gwizdowski keep the documentary moments a little less clean, a little less polished to try and aid viewers along. The shifting is subtle.

However, if you are not paying attention, a scene where the Childs’ turn to the camera, for example, and ask “Anita” to stop filming, followed by a scene where cameras are not present can prove unintentionally confusing for viewers.

Inspired, in part, by true events, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. skewers prosperity churches and the belief that being a good Christian is tied to wealth and faith. Some of the attacks are sharp, daggered, and leave a mark. And as Ebo drips little details over the actual details of the controversies that engulfed the Childs’ megachurch and growing empire, you start to want to see a different movie than the one you are experiencing. 

Where it had the chance to cut deep and expose some difficult truths about evangelical pastors and churches that have fleeced worshippers and parishioners for millions, Ebo stops short. Instead, she doubles down on one character’s realizations about everything swirling around them. Though effective, much of the melodrama feels mostly unresolved. 

But such is the journey of going to church, and essentially with faith and belief as a whole. No matter how much money and trust you put into someone leading you, their sermons and preaching washing through you, and their teaching you to find a path of prosperity and strength through accepting God as your Lord and Savior, someone always benefits from your pursuit of happiness and peace. And that is a paradox we desperately need to examine; one the well-intentioned Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. sadly steers away from.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Nicole Beharie, Conphidance, Austin Crute, Devere Rogers, Robert Yatta, Greta Glenn

Director: Adamma Ebo
Written by: Adamma Ebo
Adapted from the short film “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul." written by Adamma Ebo
Release Date: September 2, 2022
Focus Features | Peacock