Love Different

There have been wonderful faith-based movies made by African-American producers like Tyler Perry, T.D. Jakes and others. However "Love Different" is a body of work by Producer/Director Anthony Hackett which defies a label and even a category. It is so woven with continuously flowing themes of humor, love, faith and human interaction that 94 minutes go by without you noticing.

"Love Different" tells the tale of a young Iowa born and bred woman (expertly portrayed by Christian actress Jenn Gotzon as Lindsay Walker) who accepts a job at an all-black consulting firm in Maryland. Right off the bat, we know where this is heading. The humor and cultural clash immediately become evident, fueled by some excellent writing by Anthony Hackett and his team.

The head of the consulting firm, the affable Mr. Chamberlain, assigns his best consultant – JonNeque (Neque) Campbell to come alongside Lindsay Walker in order to give her a two day crash course in "Black Culture" after discerning that his new consultant may be unable to relate to her prospective new clientele. The humorous crash course in the culture fall under the rubric of "don't try this at home, folks".

However, while this is going on, a few subplots develop. One subplot involves Neque's equally professional wife, a regular church-going woman, who is beginning to feel neglected. The second subplot revolves around the Jenn Gotzon character (Lindsay) and her parenting skills with her teenage son. Both main characters in this warm, humanity-enhancing film are individually competent in their careers, but are also works in progress – needing to "love differently". Neque is in need of understanding his wife's "love language" – attention. Lindsay's need at this time is to be firmer in a phase of discipline with her rebellious but really obedient son, with tough love.

The premise Anthony Hackett used to underscore the title of his movie is the actual project on which he and Jenn Gotzon (Lindsay) are supposed to be working. It revolves around a public relations campaign for a youth outreach program, of a traditional church. Like many of the churches in any city's older neighborhoods in America, this church had lost most of its youth and sought out this consulting agency to handle its outreach optics.

If this movie can spark renewal and a reflective look at our human interaction, in a personal, social, work and community level, it would be a beautiful statement.

I thought Love Different was above average for a low-budget Christian film. Anthony Hackett showed an acting range beyond his intensity in Crisis Call, and I'm going to check out his other films. He also gets my thumbs up for directing.

The premise that a white girl lands in black workplace and needs culture training is believable and opens doors for the main characters to explore faith and the human condition through race and family. The people and situations they encounter are varied and fun, and they help drive the plot. Many scenes are stereotypical, but that's anticipated in a race-exploring film, and there's enough depth in the characters' lives with her undisciplined son and his stagnant marriage to balance out the thinner elements.

There are some scenes where actors seek humor by pushing a situation beyond their skills, but that's excusable in a low-budget exercise. I found the ending satisfying, and I recommend seeing the whole movie to judge for yourself. I'd call it about a 6.5 film overall versus 8-9 big-budget blockbusters, then I add the extra points for the crucial reminder to think in terms of higher powers.

I have a Pureflix account, and sometimes I will just go in and watch something when I want to have something inspiring to help lift my spirits, or to get me in the right frame of mind. This one happened to be in the "featured" section, so I clicked. I had no idea what it was going to be about, but I had seen the main actor in another film that I enjoyed. Well, from the moment this one started, the content of it shocked me so much I started giggling and I kept laughing through most of the film. And then it got to the God moment, and it was exactly what I had clicked on the film for in the first place. Even if you're not a Christian, I'd say at least start this movie. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly entertained! Normally I wouldn't rate a low budget film as highly as I rated this one, but because I giggled so much, I thought that in itself warranted a 10!

This movie has basically a good thought, to take away mental boundaries between different skin colours. I appreciate this thought and wish that more movies are being done on this matter. But this movie is below grade and it is to no surprise at the end, to notice that it was produced by the Seventh-day Adventists. There is no positive Christian message in the movie and it displays Christianity in a rather bad light.

PROS

+ Good thought to break down barriers.

CONS

• Often with ridiculous performances. Stereotypes are often overemphasized and the movie tries too hard to be funny where it is clearly not.

• The main actor claims to be Christian, but displays repeated bursts of anger, bad parenting and badly insults a man which also provokes an almost violent situation where she has to be rescued by the good guys.

• Other actors repeatedly lie, be it pretending to know each other while actually not being the case, et al.

• The movie endorses the abuse of numerologies, in this case that the number 70 means something special as soon as the Christian main actor made a purchase with the bill resulting in that precise number.

• The movie teaches that the wife is the number 1, but no mention of our KYRIOS.

• The client at the end of the movie introduces himself as a 'head elder', an office totally foreign to the Bible. If we allow such offices to be created and being promoted in movies, then we do not have to wonder when other religions call this office on top of the biblical office of an elder a bishop or pope. There is only one position on top of elders, it is IESOUS CHRISTOS.

• The producers are Seventh-day Adventists, belonging to The Call TV. Further endorsement made: the 'North American Division youth Department of SDA', the 'Washington Adventist University', 'Spencerville Adventist Academy' and the 'Living Well Christian Bookstore' (all SDA) et al.

• The movie displays at the end twice the message: "Executive producer: G-d". This is truly ridiculous and summarizes the mindset of the movie - disrespect of true Christianity.