Jesus, Bro! (2017)

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

First off, I think it's worth giving credit where credit is due - it's been long past time for satirists and comedians to nut up and give us a parody of overtly religious and conservative films. They're almost parodies of their own ideologies themselves, but there's a big hole in the market for the Airplane or Hot Shots of Christ based exploitation films. Jesus, Bro! tries to fill this need.It doesn't succeed, but points for trying.They say to write what you know, so of course our main character is a YouTube star famous for sitting on a couch and ranting about something. This time, it's atheism. Honestly, the early scenes of Rick are as earnest as the film gets, as even in his overblown, exaggerated rants, he's not much worse than some people who actually exist on YouTube. But his life changes when his girlfriend (who's joke is that she only talks in exposition! It's funny because... bad movies do that?) realizes his atheism is more important to him than her and breaks up with him. She then goes off to immediately have 20 kids offscreen instead of doing something equally fundamentalist Christian that could have been enjoyable for the audience to watch.Rick drinks some craft beer brewed with holy water and passes out into a vision where he meets Jesus. But not really Jesus, it's Santa Christ from Nostalgia Critic for no reason.Brad Jones, despite still holding affiliation with Channel Awesome, has largely been independent. His channel covers several review niches, he has his own group of co-conspirators with varied tastes and opinions on media, and he maintains good relations with former CA contributors like Allison Pregler and Phelous Porteous. Which is why it's so disappointing that for this film, instead of developing his own vision of Jesus and the devil, he leans on Rob Walker's Santa Christ character and Malcolm Ray's devil from Nostalgia Critic. There's really no reason for it, other than maybe it was a condition for the Walker brothers and Fard Muhammad to appear in the film. It's the sort of cynical connection to the embattled Channel Awesome brand that makes this feel less like an intelligent parody and more like an extension of an exhausted meme.The film kind of goes on and on and on from there, with Rick going from over the top atheist to over the top Christian. This is where a good parody would have delved into the sorts of imagery and media cues that films like God's Not Dead use to comment on how those creators use the media for their message. But I suppose that's my own fault for expecting subtle comedy from a movie called Jesus, Bro!It's way too long for the amount of material they had for this story, and it shows. And yet, it's still the most competent non-review piece of media to ever come out of the Channel Awesome ecosystem. I wanted to like it, and I keep wanting someone from this group to actually go and watch their own reviews and learn some lessons about how not to make a bad movie. But seeing as the next offering will be a sequel to the Cinema Snob movie, I'm not holding my breath.

I'll keep this review relatively short and sweet, with my main point being that you will enjoy this film immensely if you're a fan of any of these talented reviewers or their sites. Chock full of hilarious PureFlix references (my favorite being the bit about the main character/director/terrifying creep from "Old Fashioned"), and delivered in the Brad Jones vein of humor found in his scripted Cinema Snob reviews, as well as his done-on-the-spot Midnight Screenings. The acting is very good considering the budget (and that the actors themselves happily acknowledge that they are not professional actors in other videos), and the direction is satisfactory. The jokes occasionally hit a wall but for the most part are hilariously on target ("Oh, to be 34 again...") One aspect of this film that jumps off the screen is that it is more than clear to the viewer that all who are involved in this feature have a palpable camaraderie and seem to be having a blast while making this passion project of theirs. Adds depth to the on screen action and lends a positive tone to the comedy as a whole. Would recommend to any fan of Channel Awesome. I rented the movie on Vimeo for $3.99 but after seeing will more than likely order a DVD copy to show to friends.

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.

OK this was made on a budget of next to nothing and I don't know who's parents house they were shooting at but that house deserves a credit mentioning!Past that though this is an entertaining little movie full of inside jokes from Brad's Cinema Snob reviews and recurring characters on the nostalgia critic (yes I mean Santa Chris and Malcom playing the devil!). If you are reading this review are either already a fan of the Channel Awesome group... or one of the cast in which case HI BRAD! Jokes aside the acting in this movie was good and it was actually well written, it will keep you entertained, the sets are what you'd expect in this kind of movie though but they don't overwhelm the scene. I had two issues with this movie though. 1. The hard cuts.... they huuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttttttttttt! I get that this is a no budget movie but aside from one hard cut (made for the lovely Sarah!) they gave me whiplash, could have played up the comedic angle a bit or something.2. Compared to the rest of the cast David was a bit... ummmm well maybe not main role material? I really enjoyed the supporting cast. they were all fun to watch.I'll admit this was the first time I've actually watched a movie of this sort and I was ready for something REALLY bad, but I was pleasantly surprised, what it lacked in production value it more then made up for in charm and I would recommend it. 8 out of 10 from me. I was entertained from beginning to end which is more then I can say for some 100+ million movies I've seen recently