'Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.' forgets its purpose
© 2021 Pinky Promise LLC
It’s, uh, bold, to say the least, to take a mockumentary approach to sexual misconduct scandals in a megachurch. It’s not automatically undoable; a comedy about suicide bombers doesn’t sound like it would work either, and yet Chris Morris’ 2010 “Four Lions” will prove you wrong.
However, “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” isn’t “Four Lions” or “Best in Show” (can only people named Chris do this?). First-time feature writer-director Adamma Ebo begins by highlighting absurdities big and small, from the way that pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (a very good Sterling K. Brown) justifies his wealth and lavish wardrobe as evidence of God smiling on those who worship most faithfully to the dangerous and narcissistic tendency for corrupt leaders to change the rules to benefit them. (Conveniently, when deacons take issue with Pastor Childs, he says God told him to operate without them.) This—and especially when it’s identified that the swaggering, charismatic leader is being investigated for sexual misconduct, though with whom isn’t immediately clear—shouldn’t be the first time anyone is hearing about this sort of behavior.
But it does provide an opportunity for Regina Hall, recently very underused in “Me Time,” to get a role that showcases both her comic flair and knack for quiet struggle (“Support the Girls”). As Childs’ wife Trinitie, Hall confesses that being “First Lady” to a megachurch pastor (their congregation had 25,000 members pre-scandal) requires “real mental and psychological gymnastics,” every moment that Ebo observes Hall suffering for her marital devotion sees the stronger, better person of this pairing losing out to a damaging patriarchal system. And a guy whose plastered smile seems to have lost its connection to sincerity and the people who brought him the “mega” part of its operation.
Where the movie falls apart, and it happens early, is both in the way Ebo forgets this is a satire—it’s not that the jokes aren’t funny, it’s that there aren’t any jokes!—and that “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” simply doesn’t probe into this world or its particular difficulties enough. There’s no sense of what it takes to be a leader on one of these stages or what wisdom these people supposedly possess that captivates others, beyond being talented performers. (A rival couple is clearly of stronger character than Lee-Curtis but on stage does pretty much the same thing, just more humbly.) So by the time Lee-Curtis tasks Trinitie with an embarrassing public display for the sake of recruiting new or former members to their church community, you get the sense Ebo thinks it’s both funny and heartbreaking but awkwardly mixes the messages and winds up with nothing. The movie never satisfyingly confronts Lee-Curtis’ actions or his identity or a lot more that needs unpacking about the scandal itself.
There are always impactful stories to be told about people whose ability to inspire also gives them the potential to deceive. It’s horrifying the degree to which we’ve seen that in real life lately. But a mockumentary that loses the “mock” part needs to land on something that feels like an insightful documentation.
“Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” doesn’t understand anything in new ways or inform about either hollowness or belief. Funny title, though.
C
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