The Best Two Years

I saw this last night with my wife while we were down visiting her family in Cedar City and I was moved by the acting and by the touching messages. It was more of a serious, realistic storyline with still a lot of great humor. Unlike Singles Ward and RM (where if you aren't LDS, you might not get the one liners and jokes) this is something for a non-LDS audience to enjoy and be touched deep inside as well. I think that BEST TWO YEARS rivals GOD'S ARMY as far as warm human emotions. All four Elders were great as well as the "convert" I think that the producers have shown in this film, while they're still getting off of the ground, and maybe a bit rough around the edges, that they are trying to have versatility, versatility that they need to continue to succeed. The Comedies (HM Teachers, RM, and SIngles Ward) and the more serious and touching (Best Two Years and God's Army). I hope that they continue to make more LDS films-practice makes perfect.

I didn't expect much from this movie when I first bought this movie. I had seen "The Home Teachers" and although it was funny (for a Mormon like me), it was totally corny and stupid. But when I watch "The Best Two Years", "The Home Teachers" was erased from my memory. I enjoyed the movie that much.

It was way better than any other Mormon movie I had seen before. The spirit was still strong in it, the characters were interesting, and overall, it was hilarious. I especially enjoyed Elder Calhoun and his nerdy antics. And even better was Elder Rodgers sarcastic remarks and dry, yet witty humor. I don't think any other Mormon movie comes close to this film.

I've read the other reviews and I agree that when viewing this movie from the perspective of being native to the Netherlands it appears cliché. Don't feel bad though because the four Missionaries were composites of many Mormon clichés and stereotypes.

But this movie isn't about a country or region. It could have been in any number of the many countries Mormon Missionaries serve.

This movie is about personal growth and the experience that 60,000+ current missionaries and the hundreds of thousands who have came before.

I saw this movie the day it opened in St. George, Utah 9:35pm on a Friday night and it was almost sold out.

I thought the movie was hilarious and the room was full of laughter almost the whole way through.

In addition to teaching the Gospel, missions serve as a time of personal growth. You can see this clearly in three of the Missionaries. Growing in spirituality and maturity is often a bumpy ride, but there's a lot of fun along the way too.

I think that's the point of the movie. Christianity should bring people joy and happiness.

The real difference in LDS Films seems to be two things:

1. Acting. Many LDS films have had poor acting. This film had superb acting. My wife and I were shocked at how good the acting was. We kept waiting for sophomoric acting, and only saw minor glimpses of it a couple times. What a treat!

2. Budget for marketing. It seems at least 1/3 to 1/2 the money raised for these low-cost films has to go towards marketing. Not sure this one did that, but hopefully word-of-mouth will spread and build up a decent return for the investors/makers.

I think this film surpasses God's Army because the acting was much more consistent. Many will not agree with me. I still place "Charly" as the #1 LDS film because it had romance (a theme all of these need more of; and not the cynicsim the often have) and a knock-out performance by the title lead, Beery (is that her name?). The actor playing Sam was not as strong, but he held his own most of the time.

Kudos to an unexpectedly good film with "The Two Best Year" just when many people were about to give up on LDS film after the abysmal BoM movie and Pride & Prejudice, which has simply horrible acting.

I was eager to see this film, and when my roommate and I finally did we were not disappointed. Unlike some other Mormon films - the RM and Single's Ward, specifically - this was a movie with a message. It was absolutely hilarious, don't get me wrong, but it was the kind of humour that transcended Mormon culture: you don't have to be LDS to get it. There were parts of it during which I was literally in tears, it was so funny. There were also, however, parts where I was in tears for because I was moved. Watching the spiritual reawakening of Elder Rogers was wonderful, and by no means over-done or ridiculous. And while Kirby Heyborne has been cast in almost every Mormon film made, I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. His character was radically different from his previous characters, and he played it very well. Altogether I loved this movie, and will undoubtedly see it again. It was wonderful.