Faith Based (2020)

Faith Based (2020)

 

4/10

 

Starring

Luke Barnett

Tanner Thomason

Lance Reddick

 

Directed by Vincent Masciale

Let me get this controversy the movie is addressing out of the way before we dive into the review. The movie addresses faith-based films as cheap money-making schemes, playing on the sentiments of religious people who will drop money to watch badly made movies just because it’s about God. Well, for me, no money is wasted if you enjoyed the movie in the end.

My major criticism of this movie is that it feels more like it's parodying itself. This movie is a low-bar B-movie that doesn’t try to impress. The movie is the brainchild of Luke Barnett, who writes and stars in it. This is like his fourth B-movie, and like the others, it’s just silly.

This silly movie didn’t do enough to impress me, and it will be a miracle if you get to see it on TV and manage to watch it through to the end. I came across the movie while searching for something to watch over the weekend. The idea of a mockumentary about making a movie for money seemed nice, but it ended up not being so nice. The acting in this movie is just coasting—nothing special to grab your attention. The casting is the same.

The movie is not one I would faithfully recommend to anyone. If there’s anything else on, see that instead. For me, I found it hard to stop watching because I was just curious to see how they were going to make this movie happen. In the end, as you would expect from movies like these, they did—so don’t expect any surprises in that area.

The movie is about two friends who grew up watching movies, playing video games, and not amounting to much in their adult lives. These two, Luke and Tanner, come across information that faith-based movies make a lot of money. Luke gathers this info while having dinner at his parents' home. It’s there we learn that Luke is adopted and a form of disappointment to his father.

Luke, believing in his ability to make the movie, calls his friend and gathers as many freebies and unknown actors (or people who’ve never acted) to make the film. He contacts a film company that agrees to pay them, but only if they produce and finance the movie themselves.

Luke puts everything he has into getting his father (who is a pastor) to invest a little in the movie. With some luck, he and his friend manage to get going. The whole movie is about their struggles along the way of making this film.

So, the movie is just there—no moment really jumps at you as you watch. Nothing spectacular happens, and if you’re familiar with movies at all, you can pretty much guess your way through it.