Electric Jesus

Just saw this as part of the Nashville Film Festival. Going into Electric Jesus, I thought I was in for a satire lampooning Christain Rock ala Spinal Tap. However, this movie is a charming indie film about the rise and fall of a Christain hair metal band in the 80s. It's not preachy, and is much more focused on the human experience of the characters involved. Though certain aspects leave a lot to be desired, what carries the film for me is the enthusiastic young cast, particularly the earnest performance of the lead Andrew Eakle as Erik. Highly recommended for music fans and indie film fans alike.

Great soundtrack and story that was executed well by the cast but there were way too many plot holes in the storyline. It seemed like there were deleted scenes that would've helped the story along. A more fully developed and tighter script with deeper characters in the band would've made the movie better. Nonetheless it was a very original idea and a fun movie.

Electric Jesus is a coming-of-age road movie that chronicles the rise and fall of fictional Christian rock band '316'. The band members, all teenagers, decide to embark on a national tour to 'make Jesus famous' after grappling with their own spiritual priorities and the opinions of their parents and pastors.

The 'make Jesus famous' refrain will be immediately familiar to a subset of folks with experience in evangelical churches and is one of many references to that brand of church culture in the film. The religious elements of Electric Jesus are handled with nuance and a clearly intimate understanding of the source material, though I often felt that the named references were occasionally laid on a bit thick and won't mean much to folks who don't have a very specific background. Especially the recurring Amy Grant shenanigans.

The tour, proposed and organized by used-car-salesman-esque (though perhaps they were going more for skeevy tent revivalist?) band manager Skip Wick (Brian Baumgartner), is initially a small potatoes venture hitting skating rinks and youth meetings. Skip's interactions with the band are fun to watch as the tour continues. Stowaways, hormones, and big breaks knock the narrative around a bit until a climactic final show.

The musical performances are excellent. The songs are well written and engineered, with catchy hooks and clever lyrics that accurately reflect the ideological temperament of these sorts of groups. The actors are actually the ones doing the performing, which was put to brilliant use in a scene featuring mixing board sabotage. (Correction: Not all of the actors actually play their instruments, so props for fooling me there.)

Off-stage, the band members are serviceable actors with great chemistry. Sadly, most of them are underdeveloped as characters. They're always around but we don't really get to know much about them, with the relationship between the band's sound guy and a stowaway pastor's kid occupying far too much focus for a movie about a rock band.

The epilogue could've been removed in favor of an extra scene or two of the band members.

I'd have loved to have seen a Spinal Tap-esque approach to this project, with the band members and writers developing a massive amount of shared lore/fiction, internalizing it all, and then filming as if they'd truly lived those lives. I understand that not everyone has the luxury of 4 years to develop such a thing and the ultimate aim of the filmmakers may have been elsewhere.

The film was enjoyable and visually pleasing, the music is still rattling around in my brain, and it was great seeing this subject matter presented with heart and understanding. As a survivor of awkward Christian youth culture, I'm thrilled. As a mockumentary fan, I'm a bit disappointed. Still, there's nothing like this and it's worth seeing.

John Hughes would be proud of this coming-of-age film set smack dab in the '80s. What makes it unusual, unique and universal for so many is its rich, laughable yet authentic and endearing setting. Electric Jesus centers around a Christian heavy metal band that tours the Southeast in the summer of 1986. This odd mix of testimony, testosterone and teenage life really happened for many in the Western world and this movie accurately portrays this in the background as six underage rockers do their best to make Jesus famous while playing skating rinks, youth group rooms and church sanctuaries with eyeliner, spandex, hair and falsetto vocals.

This movie is like a love letter written to Christian heavy metal - an entire subculture and sub-genre that existed and exploded side-by-side with everything else that made that decade so fun.

The soundtrack is brilliantly written - both musically and lyrically to be believable and memorable. You'll be embarrassed for liking it, but you'll find yourself singing, "Comman-do for Christ - let's all go Commando!" The lyrical wit and intentional irony won't be lost on you as you laugh your way through the film.

Comedy, comradery and nostalgia all fit very nicely inside this film. I dare you to watch it and say you hated it. I've seen it four times now and I can't wait to see it again.

I'm glad those who actually know and follow Christian music enjoy this film. I really don't recommend it for the secular viewer though.

First of all, you have to actually like hard rock. I can only take so much and really can't judge if the Christian version was an especially good take on it. The songs sung by "Sarah" are actually very nice, but blips in the overall soundtrack. In terms of story, there isn't much of one. It's basically a road film with one or two surprises along the way, but a lot of talking about goals and ambitions without a great deal of progress towards them. The moments of sexual/romantic tension are so wishy-washy you're left wondering what the point is. Above all, no character, except arguably Sarah, really grows through the film. Basically, if you don't have a fondness for the underlying genre, this film probably won't do much for you.