Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul - Review

 

The mockumentary is a fascinating genre for multiple reasons, but arguably the most creatively fascinating is the way in which it can shove the harsh truths of reality in our faces under the guise of comedy. Sure, the best in the genre are ones like “Waiting for Guffman” or “This is Spinal Tap,” but even the funniest of those have an air of sadness and drama beneath the goofiness.

“Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” takes the idea that films in this genre don’t have to be inherently comedic and runs with it. Based on writer/director Adamma Ebo’s short film, the movie follows megachurch pastor Lee-Curtis Childs, played with grinning absurdity by Sterling K. Brown (“This is Us,” “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”), and his wife Trinitie Childs, played with an exhaustedly optimistic smile by Regina Hall (“Girls Trip,” “Love & Basketball”), as they attempt to reopen their once incredibly successful megachurch, Wander to Greater Paths, after a scandal.

To say that Brown and Hall have great chemistry is an understatement. The pair bounce off one another flawlessly, building the kind of rapport that only exists after years of marriage to really bring this couple to life. It’s not that their characters are lovable, rather, Brown, Hall, and Ebo effectively exploit that unrequited optimism to craft two characters who are deeply, deeply insecure and exploitative, all while seemingly convinced they couldn’t possibly be.

The supporting cast, while minor, are also great. They may pale in comparison with screentime, but Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth,” “Sleepy Hollow (2013)”) and Conphidance (“Complications,” “American Gods”) as Shakura and Keon Sumpter, respectively, another megachurch pastor couple, are excellent in their limited time. Making especially good use of some brief moments is Austin Crute (“They/Them,” “Daybreak”) as Khalil, a young man who used to be involved with the Childs’s church.

Mockumentaries are hard to review from a normal perspective because, often times, there isn’t really a lot to talk about in terms of production design, cinematography, musical score, etc. given that the appeal rests in it emulating the realistic, unobtrusive style of documentary filmmaking. But for a chunk of its runtime, “Honk” switches to a different groove. There are times where the 4:3-esque aspect ratio and flat color schemes disappeared, switching to a 2.39:1, cinematic scope to dial in on the most harrowing moments of both the film’s plot and character developments.

It effectively catches you off guard the first time it happens and then becomes a symbol of intensity. Whenever it switches, it invokes an almost instinctual desire to lean forward and pay attention as whatever is about to happen will clearly be important. It’s certainly not a happy film by any means, and the sadness slowly gets more and more profound as things progress. It’s a shame then that it can’t help but feel uneven throughout.

It never shakes the feeling that it wants to be funnier than it is, and while no jokes fail to hit, it suffers from a bizarre identity crisis at times. When it’s being super dramatic, it can often feel like it’s trying to be jokey, and when it’s being jokey, it can often feel like it’s trying to be super dramatic. It’s possible that is the point, and it doesn’t mean that the jokey or dramatic parts are bad by any means, but it does mean that a sense of unevenness permeates throughout.

Again, it’s Brown and Hall that anchor it all, but Hall ends up being the star of the show by the end. In a similar-ish way to something like “Kevin Can Fuck Himself,” this is a film masquerading as one type of entertainment visually that uses those breaks to show how poor of a grip this woman has left on her life, her marriage, and potentially her sanity. And Hall brings it all together, holding the film tightly in her grasp.

“Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul” is a film that, while not groundbreaking, contains a remarkably harrowing story lead by two committed and commanding lead performances. It plays with the genre its uses to tell its story in effective ways and ends up being a film that, while uneven, maintains a clear path for its storytelling and evokes a kind of melancholy that only the best pieces of cringe comedy or committed actress can achieve. 3.5/5