Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul 2022 Movie Review Trailer Cast Crew

Initially cast as a "Best in Show"-style mockumentary of #MeToo-era megachurch culture, Adamma Ebo's feature directorial debut "Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul" is steadily moving into deeper territory. dark, although everything is in service to bite a target-rich environment ripe for on-screen extraction. With stars Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown doing predictably divine work (do these two artists know any other way?), “Honk for Jesus” is both hilarious and painful, a scathing rebuke of the kind of people who should have. done a long time ago. he realized that no one, especially smartly dressed shepherds, is above God.

Once at the top of the heap in their Georgia hometown, thanks to their Southern Baptist congregation of thousands at the posh Wander to Greater Pastures megachurch, Trinitie (Hall) and Lee-Curtis (Brown) have been mired in scandal for months. that almost sinks them. Through amusingly crafted newsreels and fake footage, Ebo introduces the duo and their current lot in life, not very well, but as stone-faced Trinitie tells us, they're ready to gnaw through any trouble with the tenacity of a rat, and his plan to get it all back.

Director: Adamma Ebo
Writer: Adamma Ebo
Stars: Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Nicole Beharie

Set as a mockumentary, Ebo moves between different narrative styles with ease: there's the "on camera" stuff, but then there are moments that follow the Childs even when their hired documentary director isn't around, with the man in the - Street interviews and a bunch of made up stock footage to keep it all together. The funniest parts, however, are the ones that come off the witty charm of "Best in Show" or "Waiting for Guffman," forcing Trinitie and Lee-Curtis to vocalize and explain both their situation and who they are as people. 

The pair are clearly used to being in charge, and spend most of the scenes where the film's unseen (but, at one point, overheard) filmmaker is looking at them to tell him what to do. "You can cut," Trinitie announces awkwardly at first, and it's a wonder we only hear Lee-Curtis suggest they can "edit" something just once. For the most part, they seem to think they can run the whole thing for their own ends, and as an ardent, almost manic Lee-Curtis smiles from the start, this will be "chronicle of the ultimate comeback!" Of course, only the kind of people who would think it appropriate to act out their own version of a resurrection on Easter Sunday would think they could pull any strings.

As the Childs prepare to return to the stage, "First Lady" Trinitie desperately tries to keep things together, while Lee-Curtis can barely hide the manic gleam in her eyes. My God, the public will think, what are these two up to? Oh just wait.

The film is, particularly in its first act, a lot of fun: a scene where Trinitie and Lee-Curtis lead us through her dazzling shared wardrobe and she coos, "There's something about a shepherd in Prada!" or a sequence in which the couple demands to refilm a baptism because they can't agree on the correct way to pronounce "Amen!" in their conclusion they are incredibly funny. But as "Honk for Jesus" progresses, Easter Sunday looming over everyone and everything, it begins to move away from the mockumentary feel and wider jokes.

As Ebo slowly reveals the true nature of the "accusations" made against Lee-Curtis (something financial perhaps? Audiences will probably wonder at first), the film inevitably needs to become more serious and cutting. And while debut filmmaker Ebo can't always get her mourning tones to work smoothly, Hall and Brown help guide “Honk for Jesus” through any rough patch. (It's also worth noting that the film's most purely dramatic scene, centered on Austin Crute's only appearance in the film, which premiered in "Booksmart," is heartbreaking, incredibly well-acted, and well-directed. can wish for more laughs, Ebo instinctively knows how sharp his film needs to be and when).

Elsewhere, Ebo has imagined a convincing array of secondary "talking heads," such as rival married pastors Keon and Shakura Sumpter, barely able to hide their delight at what happened to the Childs. Early on, we also meet "the devoted five," consisting of the Lee-Childs' only remaining parishioners, who smile and squint during their interviews.

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