Film Review: HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL: Regina Hall Makes Mockumentary Film Tolerable [Sundance 2022]

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. Review

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. (2022) Film Review from the 44th Annual Sundance Film Festival, a movie directed by Adamma Ebo and starring Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Nicole Beharie, Conphidance, Austin Crute, Devere Rogers, Robert Yatta, Greta Glenn, Andrea Laing, Selah Kimbro Jones, Crystal Alicia Garrett, Perris Drew, Tairat Baoku, Dhane Ross, Jah Shams, Avis-Marie Barnes and Elle Young.

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. is director Adamma Ebo’s over-the-top new comedy about a dishonest Southern Baptist pastor (Sterling K. Brown) whose wife (Regina Hall) reaches the breaking point. This film has a few funny moments but, at the same time, it occasionally feels as if it’s dragging itself through the mud to get to its inevitable conclusion. Regina Hall’s brave, fierce performance makes the film what it is–an intriguing mockumentary that teaches the audience about the ways some figures in organized religion could be pulling the wool over their parishioner’s eyes. Sterling K. Brown is not playing a character that has any likable characteristics despite his undeniable (and rather phony) charm and the film relies on the audience relating to Hall’s character in order to achieve viewer satisfaction.

Based on a short film of the same name, the movie is, first and foremost, about the lives of Lee-Curtis and Trinitie Childs. They are in the middle of a sexual misconduct controversy that has caused them to lose the majority of their congregation. Lee-Curtis (Brown) and Trinitie (Hall) are believable as a couple. Many couples are so blinded by the hope that they have chosen their partner wisely that they tend to overlook one another’s flaws in the name of marriage. That’s the case here. In an attempt to document their attempts to re-establish their church, a film crew follows Lee-Curtis and Trinitie around in the hopes of capturing a change of events for the down-on-their-luck couple who don’t want to admit they’ve been defeated.

It’s Lee-Curtis’ fault that the controversy surrounding the church is happening. Trinitie is blinded by the fact that this is her husband, the man she has chosen to love and honor so she creates reasonings to justify what is going on and is also preparing for a turn of events in which everything will be set right again. She dresses well and has nice things thanks to her participation in organized religion and probably doesn’t want to lose what she’s worked so hard to achieve. However, is it too late to begin again due to Lee-Curtis’ constant screw-ups? See the film for the answer.

Hall is very interesting and compelling in her role. Hall has a great scene where Trinitie talks to her mom (a terrific Avis-Marie Barnes) about standing by Lee-Curtis through thick and thin and the mother tells her how important it is to stay by her man by explaining her own situation with her husband. The scene ends with a reveal that is very intriguing and believable and helps us understand what would eventually happen to Trinitie if she were to continue down the path she is on. It would probably be much worse for Trinitie than it was for her mom, though.

Andrea Laing is the voice of Anita who is filming the events that occur throughout the movie. Anita is the one who is supposed to be documenting the return of the Childs to normalcy. As the film progresses, though, the situation becomes ugly as the Childs have lost thousands of parishioners to another church called Heaven’s House which is run by ministers Shakura (the great Nicole Beharie) and Keon (well played by Conphidance) Sumpter. Both churches have Easter scheduled gatherings and only one church will emerge victorious. Or will the parishioners divide up between the places of worship? See the film to find out.

Lee-Curtis is an unlikable character which makes the downfall of Trinitie actually pretty heartbreaking to watch. Their sexual chemistry is also rather unusual as a couple. However, Hall makes us believe that the couple has a chance at some sort of salvation for a while until the film gets really heavy-handed with Trinitie wearing whiteface as she tries to get people from the cars on the road to show support for her church.

Austin Crute is absolutely phenomenal in his last scene in the picture as a young man named Khalil who had faith in Lee-Curtis and finally comes face-to-face again with the man who ruined his life–Lee-Curtis. Their interaction pretty much makes the movie come alive in the last moments and the film truly says something about the way religious leaders can abuse their power.

Hall is just so good in the movie that I’m giving the movie a pass. She makes the audience understand why Trinitie stays beside Lee-Curtis as long as she does. Maybe if she hopes and believes long enough then God will erase the past. However, this film is a reminder that the past cannot be undone especially if reputations are tarnished beyond a reasonable doubt.

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. with its featured black Jesus statue and unique premise offers a lot of topics to discuss afterwards making it an ideal date movie for couples. However, I wouldn’t recommend the movie for a first date and Lee-Curtis’ unlikability may detract viewers from enjoying the film. Brown can do no wrong but here, the script doesn’t give him a character we want to see triumph making this Hall’s film from beginning to end. Hall is passionate and fleshes her character out much more than it probably even was in the script making her work hard to ignore in a film about a male character everyone will most likely ignore by film’s end.

Rating: 7/10

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