User reviews

Like another reviewer, I got hyped about the title and trailer content hoping for a sobering satire on the gimmickry of American evangelicalism. But I'm not sure this effort isn't about 20 years late. The mid to late 90's were especially laden with style driven controversies as so many churches were transitioning away from "traditional" worship styles toward a "contemporary" style.

The early adopters of not only contemporary worship style but felt-needs driven, socioeconomically profiled, ministry that blew up into mega churches are kind of a thing of the past. The current threat to the sincere presentation of the gospel message in churches now is something different i.e. Progressivism, technocracy, mysticism e.g. Soul soaking, wokism etc. This would present a considerable writing challenge but is a far more timely theme.

But that aside, this film has big issues as it is. The acting was mostly bad. Another reviewer mentioned the script being trash. I have to agree. But I think some of it could have been salvaged by some different writing/directing decisions. For example, way too much onscreen time was devoted to a weak plot vector having to do with stopping the crucifixion stunt itself. It may seem counterintuitive, but this stunt should not have been the main focus anymore than it was the real problem the characters needed to solve.

The problem for the antagonist is the appetite the church has for the stunts and gimmicks but the plot was consumed with stopping a gimmick. This needed to happen but the onscreen time was disproportionate toward this effort and only a tiny bit right at the end was devoted to the change of heart by the pastor which was hard to buy in to.

The scene with Guy's daughter was very poorly conceived. This is an example of the writing/direction decision making I was referring to. This was just half-baked. She walks in, announces she is his daughter and he is just like "Sup?" This was an opportunity for some real acting and deserved to have some of the awkwardly long Tino screen time shifted toward it.

Stephen Baldwin's character was just plain weird.

William Baldwin's talent was wasted talent on his brief role. Could have used him for the lead and had Thor play a supporting role? Maybe he was offered this but passed on it?

The Blaze character was too flaky. This made it impossible for any real enlightenment to occur with him.

I am a big supporter of Christian film. I can forgive a lot but I paid $20 to watch this via SalemNow. I am very disappointed. I can't let you off the hook just because your heart was in the right place.

Needed some tweaking in editing. A countdown clock to the day/hour/minute would have added a sense of urgency as well as comedy. Characters were nice written and stereotyped for some laughs. The base is SO there but needs some refining in the script as well. Great message :)

Funny ?, but with everything going on in the world , religion is best left alone . It will have something for some people though .

I really wanted to enjoy this. What a waste of a good premise. After 20 years in a church like the one portrayed here, I thought it might be worth a viewing.

Fellow Christians, please stop giving bad movies high scores simply because they have Christian themes. All that does is encourage more bad Christian movies.

Much of this movie felt like it was written at a church staff retreat after a night of sleep-deprivation. The plot was formulaic and the punchlines easy to see coming. The characters had no depth and their quirks were more cringe-inducing than endearing.

It was sad to see Donald Faison's life sucked out of him with this role.

You could see his eyes closing over a little more each time he was onscreen. The cheesy exit of his character was so lame I'm suprised they didn't take him out to the pasture shoot him afterward.

I am sure there are tons of talented christian artists, and faith is a unending provider of great subjects. So why do we keep getting these terrible movies?

Where are the christian movie makers and writers that would put faith as part of a great film, or even just a good film. A film that doesn't need to preach, a film that could allow people of faith to be self-mocking without being deriding or self-satisfying without being indulgent. Or films that could still tackle issues without being endlessly militant. It can be done, see for instance the french "coexister" or "of god and men", very different but equally great, or even Terence Malick's "the tree of life".

And maybe it is not an issue with artists but with financing and distribution, but whatever the cause, this is another good premise wasted on a very very poor result.

A family friendly Christian movie, funny, and self-aware, with a stellar cast, that made for an enjoyable and entertaining film.

Engaging and humorous, it is a wonderful film to share with family, containing the powerful message of the foremost gospel of Christ's sacrifice for our sins. Starring Christian comedian Thor Ramsey, alongside a wonderful cast, including Stephen Baldwin, Joey Fatone, and even a cameo from the My Pillow Guy himself. I will admit that at times the humor can be deemed irreverent, so if you are offended by the likes of Tim Hawkins and John Crist then it might not be your style. But by the end, it all came together and I enjoyed the wit in this Christian movie being willing to take a step back and make fun of some aspects of the Christian culture, as well as to be honest enough to take a serious look at itself as well.

All in all a fun family movie, with some great talking points along the way. Filled with humor, clean and at times cheesy, well acted, with a powerful conclusion, this is a movie that makes for a great family movie night and is great to share with others!

Many thanks to Collide Distribution for providing this product/product information for review. Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

This movie was not good. I had high expectations going in because I really really liked the idea for this movie. The Christian church has become, in a lot of ways, a huge production masking itself as a way to reach people. Yet in doing that the gospel has been so watered down, and pushed to the side. So when I saw the trailer I got hyped, thinking it was going to be brutally honest about the modern church. In a lot of ways it is, but man it was way too over the top.

The biggest problems with this movie, however, is the script and the acting. The script is trash. And a lot of times it's incredibly weird. Their are actually a lot of incredibly awkward scenarios and lines in this movie. Some that talk about listing after maniquinns and other weird stuff like that. Furthermore, the acting is also terrible. I really think it's mainly cause the script is so bad, but nonetheless everyone does terribly in this movie.

There is one very very good thing about this movie, and that is its presentation of the gospel. Most Christian movies I've seen always have bad acting, script, writing, and a terrible presentation of the gospel. They do a fantastic job of illustrating what the Gospel really is. So for that, I applaud them.

However, everything else about this movie is incredibly weird, off putting, and beyond over the top. But all in all they did present the gospel clearly and I'm glad they were able to do that!

I was expecting a more typical Christian church service movie with praying but was surprised and thrilled by the abundance of comedy, romance, and charming father daughter reunion. Leaves you smiling and feeling good.

Can't lie, it's not a 10. But it's not that bad. I had some real good laughs, the acting didn't suck like most small films. Not gonna win any Oscar's but not a definitely not waste of time!

This movie is as poorly made and as uncomfortable as Mike Lindell's pillows -- who just happens to be the executive producer.

Poorly written, acted, directed ... feels trite, transparent messaging, in general gives a bad name and sets a low bar for faith-based productions.

If you're expecting a playful film that looks at mega-church evangelical Christianity making good-natured fun of itself, get off at the next bus stop. Don't waste your time with this film, and don't expect it to make you feel good. It doesn't.

A disappointment.

I like being supportive of faith-based films and I love a good comedy, and Church People is both! Making the Gospel the main thing is important whether you're a small church or a mega church and bringing that message with humor makes it all the more memorable.

Dumbest movie ever mocking the mega church. Cannot stand any of the Baldwins Head pastor so dumb joey fatone dumber than normal.how did that movie get released.

This felt like watching a really long skit at summer camp. I think the actors couldve pulled off a decent movie if the script wasn't dumpster fire fuel. I thank God His grace helped me to maintain my faith despite watching this film.

A popular youth group pastor at a megachurch in greater Los Angeles (Thor Ramsey) struggles with the assembly losing the point with their perpetual gimmicks while possibly romancing the pastor's daughter (Erin Cahill) and dealing with an unexpected girl from his past (Andriana Manfredi).

"Church People" (2021) is a fun satire with snappy dialogue related to the typical happenings at a large, popular fellowship. Ramsey works well as the protagonist with winsome Erin Cahill offering quality support, along with Manfredi. The only other flick I've seen Erin in is "Boogeyman 3" from 13 years prior; she's reminiscent of Karen Allen. Meanwhile the senior pastor (Michael Monks) is reminiscent of Jack Hayford, who passed away a couple years after this was released.

Stephen Baldwin is on hand as a 'weird' greeter with the uncanny gift of the word of knowledge. There's a great joke involving him near the end.

The flick really won me over at the midpoint with the laser tag sequence and the hilarious meeting of the two females. As for the climax, it revolves around self-crucifixion and is actually moving.

The movie runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, which is in the high country 25-minutes northwest of Malibu, a 45-minutes drive from Hollywood to the east.

GRADE: B.

This movie provides much needed comic relief during this unprecedented time of Covid. Not only does it provide laughter, it breaks out into a thought provoking discussion for churches as they prepare for the flocks of people to return.

When will the follow-up "Mosque People" be released?

Maybe it's the American culture rubbing off on us, but all too often it seems we as a Christian church are constantly after something new, something more. Something bigger. We want our worship services to be full-fledged concerts, and our sermons to be impassioned pep-talks that make us feel better about ourselves. We look for new ways to appear relevant and attractive to non-believers.

But honestly... What could be bigger than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

I'm usually wary of promoting a movie before I've seen it. However, I loved the trailer for "Church People" so much I took a chance on it, and the movie did not disappoint! It's fun, funny, heartwarming, and so well done. All the actors were spectacular, and the few characters I found annoying at times annoyed me exactly as they would if they were real people at my own church. The comedy was funny, and I absolutely LOVED the Gospel presentation. I highly recommend "Church People"!

This film brilliantly presents the actual Gospel while exposing apostate churches like Church of the Highlands, Church By the Glades, Transformation Church, Bethel Church, Faith Church, Vous Church, et al that trade in the Gospel for expensive entertainment and distractions meant to lure people into their churches. Yet, you never hear the Gospel in them. No calls for repentance. No mention of sin. No giving the bad news that makes the Good News that much better. Preaching in these churches are very motivational and narcissistic.

This movie contained a clear presentation of the Gospel with a witty humor that was often unexepected. Thankfully, the film was devoid of the mysticism that often plagues Christian movies.

I thought this movie was a good, lighthearted look at a serious topic - the church marketing movement. While it didn't condemn the entire movement, which very well deserves to be condemned, it did show the inevitable excesses that necessarily follow once a church starts down the slippery slope of trying to make the Gospel more palatable via feedback from marketing surveys and catering to the felt needs of any particular demographic.

Those in support of church marketing state the objective is to get people in the door and then give them solid Bible-based preaching and the Gospel once they're in. However, this fails because once the church begins targeting any particular group the message becomes human-centered rather than God-centered. Why? Because in marketing, the customer is always king, everything begins and ends with the customer. You can't dabble with something that's so human-focused by definition and somehow be God-focused at the same time. You can't serve two masters because the "customer" replaces God as king! The message inevitably gets watered down to please the customer-king, to recruit more customer-kings, and a weak, powerless-to-save Gospel is presented.

Case in point: Several reviews of this movie praise it with the claim that the Gospel was presented. It was not. I'm not condemning the movie for this, I'm just stating the fact. It was correctly stated that Jesus became the substitutional atonement for saved sinners, but that is not the full Gospel! It's of course foundational to the Gospel, yet it's incomplete. There was nothing about sin, judgment, or why a person needs to be saved... and nowhere was it stated that one must be born again to see the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3)! The fact that so many feel that the Gospel was actually presented is indicative of the sorry condition of the American church and the weak teaching that passes for biblical teaching today.

Somehow, the church has become misguided into believing that the worship service is a mission field, and that the goal is to get the lost into the worship service by any means necessary and then backdoor them with a sales pitch to convince them that God is just waiting on pins and needles hoping they'll say yes to Him. This is false and the Bible knows nothing of this approach! The true purpose of the church is for the saved to honor and glorify God by praising His holy name, and to be edified by the faithful preaching of His holy Word (see, for example, MacArthur's "Gimme That Showtime Religion").

See the movie, think about what you saw, and then ask yourself first "Am I born again?" If you're not sure, read the epistle in the back of the New Testament called 1 John and pray the Lord give you wisdom to know, and that He has saved or will save you. Next, ask yourself if the main focus of your church is to honor and glorify the Living God and edify the saved, or does it use Marketing gimmicks and sales tactics to get people in the doors like the movie. Maybe there's no beach balls, but what about a smoke machine? Is a bar concert scene replicated? Does your pastor preach about sin and the need to repent, that is to turn to Christ to be saved, or does he preach about all of the human needs God can fulfill if you'll only give Him the chance? If so, pray the Lord lead you to a biblical church where the pastor and congregation love the Lord and love His Word enough to see that His Word is faithfully preached in a way that brings honor and glory to the Christ who came down from Heaven, took on flesh, lived a perfect sinless life, and shed His precious blood for those who will obey God's command to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2)."

A bit cheesy but a great movie! Hits all the notes for post modern Christianity verses Biblical Christianity. Corny at times, but funny! Definitely a great relaxing movie that'll make you laugh!

Engaging, humorous and very on topic story that spotlights our current fixation on performances instead of Christ and the Gospel. We live messy lives and this movie shows even with our messy bits, Christ still loved us to provide a way to bring it to the cross. Funny, heartfelt and good movie for the whole family.