Salvation Boulevard

I grew up Southern Baptist and I thought this movie was laugh out loud funny. Of course, there was some predictable religious jokes. Lots of confusion & communication-based chaos with a karma-tic ending (though a bit trite). Actually saw this movie September 2010 at a early release film screening where we were able to review the film afterward. I hope they re-shot the ending, as the conclusion was a bit abrupt. Overall, it was a great laugh. Pierce Brosnan is EXCELLENT as Rev. Dan Day. Stand out performances by Greg Kinnear and Marisa Tomei as well. Not sure if this film will be a small release, but it's worth finding to see.

While this is not Casablanca, this is a great little sleeper of a film. Great cast, funny script, good production values, I'm just astonished it bombed at the box office.

The story of a preacher gone bad, a dead head turned believer, and a cast of character actors that are very well cast. It's a slapstick of a film, but we live in a world where that isn't enough.

The plot is right on the money, with with a series of turns and twists that entertain at every junction. I've never seen Pierce Brosnan as well cast as the Evangelical that goes astray. Greg Kinnear is superb in the role of the deadhead turned believer who has his faith tested. Ed Harris is perfect in the role of anti-Christ author, Marisa Tomei is just hilarious as the redeemer of Greg. Jennifer Connelly plays a very convincing wife who just can't believe that the pastor is in the wrong. Isabelle Furman plays a wonderful role in the daughter who is caught in the middle.

Great funny lines, incredibly fun acting. If you are looking for a fun night and need a video, this is it. I have to imagine this film might be more successful over time, and as people discover it. If you are a born again Christian, this might not be your cup of tea.

Film should've been better. Kinnear somewhat underplays a space case who somehow agrees to take the fall for an attempted murder that Brosnan's character commits, and then comes to has second thoughts about. Brosnan overplays the petulant and self righteous pastor. Both actors are two i've long thought of as nicely underrated actors in general--the chemistry between the two of them was so nice in 2005's "The Matador" that i was more than a little disappointed that the two of them spend the large majority of this film in their own separate plot lines and only have a limited amount of screen time together here. What you have here is a halfway decent set-up for some halfway decently thought up characters whom are all wasted in a messy barrage of scenes where one thing happens, then another, and then a third thing happens, but none of what happens means anything to any of the characters, and with the exception of maybe the increasingly anxious Kinnear--none of what is happening seems to mean anything to the actors playing them as well. This plot line and these characters probably made a lot more sense in the novel that this is based on...and i can see there is a solid raucous sense of humor going on in some scenes where the mechanics of the plot aren't in the way--like say Kinnear's handful of scenes with Marisa Tomei who's a spacey female interested in him.

Whenever i read something that i think would make a good movie i forget to take into account that when you're retelling someone else's story as a film you can't take into account the motives and inner thoughts of all the characters in a story. Despite some attempts made the film largely doesn't tell you what the characters are thinking while their reacting. (Pierce Brosnan's character for example has a moment in the shower where his phone rings and the caller reads unknown-and he shudders and groans clearly unhappy about getting this call-but why? what does he think this call is? how could he possibly know what's happening? half the time i was watching him i was wondering just what his motivation was other then staying out of jail--why does he care about Greg Kinnear even after he framed him for murder? why does he care about Ed Harris even after he shot him? why is he doing anything at all here?) How exactly does Marisa Tomei's character fit into the film again? what was her connection with the murder plot exactly? how did she know that kinnear was really innocent even before he told her? What she just knew because of his character? Why does Jennifer Connelly (who plays Kinnear's born again wife and is completely unimportant to the plot as a whole) insist on maintaining a relation with Kinnear despite the fact that its clear that the two of them are completely wrong for each other (come to think of it why was he with her in the first place--i get that she saw him as a project to work on--but why did he bother getting himself cleaned up and seeking religion with her when he was clearly so much happier as a dead-head and she was so clearly in love with Brosnan's pastor character? why am i even asking this when again she clearly doesn't matter to the story.) This movie does not work as a whole and its a shame because they clearly had something almost good here. This is exactly why you need to have characters a viewer should care about in addition to decently done chase scenes and somewhat amusing characters in somewhat amusing circumstances.

Carl Vanderveer (Greg Kinnear) used to be a Deadhead, and now is a follower of a charismatic church leader Dan Day (Pierce Brosnan). After a debate with atheist Peter Blaylock (Ed Harris), he invites Dan and Carl back home to pitch his idea of joining up to co-author a book. However, Dan accidentally shoots Peter and tries to frame it as a suicide. Then Dan tries to frame Carl as the shooter.

This is a black comedy without the comedy. Greg Kinnear may not be a good comedic lead if George Ratliff is aiming for funny. He is constantly taking shots at fundamental Christians, but it never really sticks. As a satire, this is a struggle to find any humor. Everybody is trying desperately to be outrageous especially Jennifer Connelly, but they do it without a clue of how to make it funny.

"I am the anointed servant of God and I tell you to be silent!" Deadhead turned born-again-Christian Carl (Kinnear) is friends with the pastor of his local mega-church Dan Day (Brosnan) and is invited to accompany him to scientist Dr. Paul Blaylock's (Harris) house for a discussion. When a terrible accident happens Carl finds himself fingered in the incident and does everything he can to prove he is innocent. Things aren't always easy though. Having never seen a preview for this I was excited for this based off the cast alone. While I will say this is a good movie and a very dark comedy I was a little disappointed. The main flaw this had was that the movie had a good idea but had only ten minutes of it. There was a lot of repeating going on and a few scenes that seemed like they were only put in to increase the running time. I have to say that Brosnan and Kinnear played very similar parts to the ones they played in "The Matador" (which is a better movie) but it seems to fit them. It may sound like I'm bashing this movie. I don't mean to if that's how it comes off. I did enjoy it and laughed a few times but based off the cast I was a little disappointed (but after movies like "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "Son Of No One" I need to stop thinking just because the cast is great means the movie will be great.) Overall, a decent dark comedy that is worth watching but tone down your expectations. I give it a B-.