Pastor Shepherd

A friend invited me to the WorldFest Houston film festival to see this film. Overall I really enjoyed it. There are truly some laugh out loud moments. I really liked the Dewey character. I literally laughed for 2-3 minutes after seeing him painting his toenails with white-out. I also think the interaction between Shepherd and Phil, especially early in the film, is classic funny.

This may not be Danny Trejo's most memorable role, but I think we was more than adequate as the straight man to Shepherd's goofiness.

There is a definite 'independent' vibe to the film, but not in a negative way. In fact, it's clean and professional in it's delivery. I'm looking forward to seeing it again, I get the feeling there is more funny in the film that I missed.

Raised by evangelists, I normally don't find films about religion funny at all. Between flashbacks of my baptism in the Atlantic Ocean and post-traumatic stress from having to memorize all the books of the Bible (forwards and backwards --- that's right Revelation to Genesis and everything in between -- 66 in all, if memory serves) I normally run faster than Lot's family from Sodom and Gomorrah at the mention of anything with the word "Pastor" attached.

Soooo, I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself happily locked into my seat for the duration of Edwin Marshall's "Pastor Shepherd." As an industry veteran, my normally jaded filter was wiped clean by the naiveté with which our hero approached life. Not since "Forrest Gump" has a character's purity of spirit so captivated an audience. His journey as he cares for his prescription drug and televangelist-addicted mother, applies himself diligently to his dare we say... morbid? profession, and struggles to communicate with those in his small world, has us cheering for this unlikely hero. "Pastor Shepherd" hearkens us back to a time when innocence was cool. And I think that's pretty darn neat.

This is one of those rare, indie gem sleepers that go almost unnoticed until you find it yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finish. The script was utterly hilarious, as well as all of the characters. Danny Trejo got a great role, even though it was a relatively minor one, and showed off his comedic talent. Several of the lines in the movie are so funny, they hit you like a sight gag. I could not stop laughing at the interludes between Pastor Shepherd and his boss at the freeze-dried pet company. Whoever directed this deserves an award. It reminds me of a really good John Waters movie. If you want to be very pleasantly surprised by an overlooked gem, this is your ticket. Definitely one of the funniest movies in the last 20 years.

This film is sure to become the next great cult classic. It's the kind of movie you want to share with friends and watch over and over again. I haven't laughed that hard in a movie in a long time! If you've ever watched late night televangelists and laughed out loud, then this is the movie for you! But there's so much more to it than a simple satire of televangelism. I was surprised at the heartwarming story that made you come to love Pastor Sheperd!

Wow!! What a great character! Pastor Sheperd is reminiscent of a classic SNL character, however I enjoyed this movie far more than any movie spawned from an SNL character I've ever seen! The comedic timing is brilliant!

And then there's Danny Trejo, "the world's greatest bad-ass", playing the warm and friendly neighbor. How can you miss out on that!

It was a pleasant surprise to watch a movie that was that funny and yet was so clean. It seems like comedies today are in a contest to see who can be the most vulgar. Movies like Pastor Sheperd and Napoleon Dynamite have proved that that isn't necessary.

Its well cast, well written and perfectly executed!!

The movie does have a bit of an underdog, independent movie feel. But it never really captures too much on it. The main actor is doing a very fine job indeed and never really fails in portraying an awkward character, that should be more despicable than likable. Which makes it almost too hard to believe so many people actually invest (trust) him to do anything (and it proves more often than not they shouldn't have).

Comedy is a broad word/term and not every movie that sets out to make one really does succeed satisfyingly in trying. And while I do admire anyone trying to make something worthwhile and fun to watch, I do hope that people will focus on more than a few cheap jokes in general (and when some of them fail to deliver it gets worse). Story is as simple as our hero is simple minded. You might find it's little created world a bit more appealing than others, generally speaking this could have used a bit more "spark"