Movie Review: "Jesus People" Hilarious Spoof of Christian Music Industry

The story focuses on Pastor Jerry Frank, who decides to start a Christian music group so he can offer his teenaged son an alternative to the mainstream rap and hip hop music he listens to.

The group, named Cross My Heart, includes Gloria Hamming, a has-been CCM artist whose career tanked after her marriage ended when her husband came out of the closet; Zak Crowner, a young Republican, Jerry Falwell, evangelistic straight arrow who sees the world in terms of heaven and hell; Cara Bosch, a local beauty pageant winner who jumps at the chance to join a Christian music group, even though she knows nothing about Christ, God, or the Bible; and Ty Raney, an African American youth group leader who is constantly pigeonholed by Christian media and industry professionals as the rapper because of his skin color.

Cross My Heart has an instant Christian radio hit with their first single, "Jesus Save The World," from their upcoming but yet unrecorded debut album. (And cheesy as the song it, like most Christian pop it'll stick in your brain no matter how hard you try to forget it.) But things go off track when Gloria's manager hands the track off to an L.A. producer, who remixes the song into a dance club hit, "Save The World." The band's mainstream career takes off as their image goes from evangelical Christian band to environmental mainstream crossover.

It's every cliché and truth about Christian music, rolled up in one hilarious film. While the characters embody some of the worst of Christian culture - despite the fact that Cara clearly isn't a Christian, for example, her band mates just dismiss her when she makes mistakes rather than share the gospel - in the end, the best of Christianity also shines through.

The film is based on the web TV series of the same name, and fans will notice a few differences. In the web show, Ty is hiding the fact that he's a single dad. Filmmaker Dan Ewald explains the change: "We decided we needed a protagonist we could identify with -- and we didn't want the character of Ty to be hiding such a huge secret. So we felt it was best to drop that storyline altogether to strengthen our lead character. Basically, we needed a Jim from 'The Office' who was above the lunacy of the other characters."

Another change is that in the web show, "The Office's" Kate Flannery plays the role of the Dove Award winning songwriter hired to pen the radio hit for Cross My Heart. Ewald told me that she was ready and willing to reprise that role but at the last minute a scheduling conflict made it impossible. Laura Silverman from "The Sarah Silverman Program" jumped in and filled the role.

If the story seems to authentic, especially to those of us working in Christian music, it's because writer Dan Ewald spent years as a journalist before becoming a screenwriter, interviewing, as he told me, "Nearly every CCM act - from Avalon to the Gospel Gangstas, from CeCe Winans to Switchfoot, and every genre in between." Those experiences are clearly evident in the film and are why it's so funny. Ewald says that while he and Rajeev Sigamoney, who co-wrote the script, are Christians, the cast members come from various faith backgrounds, they wanted a director who was also a Christian. "We needed someone who shared our creative vision," Ewald says. "Jason Naumann definitely was that guy. The three of us have the same sensibilities, and that's why the movie is what it is."

And what it is, is funny, and sometimes painful, and occasionally even convicting. There's a little bit of each of the characters in all of us; regardless of how perfect we want to think of ourselves as Christians, we can all be judgmental, ignorant, clueless and overbearing. And we can also be graceful and faithful and caring and intelligent enough to realize when we've stepped outside of God's will.

Most importantly, Ewald, Sigamoney and Naumann did a great job of spoofing Christian culture without mocking God or Jesus. I think that's probably the hardest thing to do in humor, and they really hit the mark. Ewald says, "Spirituality is fascinating to everyone - as long as there's no agenda attached. Our only agenda as comedy writers is to make people laugh."

"Jesus People" is being screened in Nashville during GMA week, and Ewald tells me the audience will be filled with everyone from Christian music artists to a local chapter of atheists. It should make for interesting discussion over coffee later.

You can learn more about "Jesus People" on the film's website.