Nun of That

If one comes across this title and commits to watching, there's one thing to squarely keep in mind. The only, crystal-clear intent with 'Sister Wrath,' also known as 'Nun of that,' was to tell a ridiculous, over the top story in a way that was as ridiculous and over the top as was possible. The movie immediately feels like a cheeky idea a college kid had after watching Adult Swim for many hours, and on a lark they somehow scrabbled together the cash and the contacts to pursue the production on a level one split hair above 100% amateurism. These nuns just want to have fun (alongside everyone else involved).

That's the one definite truth about this movie. In addition, I would argue that there are dashes of cleverness sprinkled throughout, some good ideas that allow some happy little neurons to fire off as we watch. Still - all the most open-minded generosity one could muster will only extend so far. It's so easy to meaningfully criticize every last element of 'Sister Wrath' that one wonders if the effort would really be worth it. Writing, direction, acting, effects, production design, art direction, and all other work behind the scenes and in front of the camera are at once overcooked and underwhelming. They build absolute inauthenticity, and so heavily pervade the feature that all 90 minutes operate at an 11 on a dial that only goes to 10; with no sense of dynamics, the result is flat and dull. Moreover, a preponderance of the dialogue and irreverent would-be humor is hopelessly juvenile and pointlessly raunchy, aiming for cheap laughs over real wit. This is to say nothing of a screenplay that plays fast, loose, and questionably with religion and culture, employs misogyny, racism, and homophobia, and makes light of child molestation in the Catholic Church. Some of this is instilled to a fraction of a degree better than abject mockery and punching down, but that's not saying much.

All this may still earn a passing grade if the writing and direction weren't so forced and contrived at large, if there were greater care put into realizing the picture even on a meager budget, or if there were more balance between the action and the comedy. Yet where bombastic action has made similar flicks a total blast (see 2010's 'Nude nuns with big guns,' which I for one loved), there's too little of it here to make a dent, and it's not as convincing where it does present. Where the humor is concerned one could at best argue that 'Sister Wrath' is trying to be a third- or fourth-tier distantly-related knock-off of 'The Hebrew Hammer,' but again - it's just not funny. That leaves very little for the curious viewer to really latch onto. To whatever extent this feature can claim to have been an earnest endeavor to be ludicrous entertainment, and to whatever far smaller extent it actually does provide some, as a whole it's simply not satisfactory.

The cast do what they can with weak material and lacking direction, but it's not much. Crew behind the scenes contribute what they can within the limits of a production that feels roughly equivalent to an Uncork'd film, but they alone can't overcome the deficiencies. 'Sister Wrath' only wants to have fun, but it's so consistently boorish and overdone - frankly, in all the wrong places - that the enjoyment isn't particularly passed onto the audience. I commend the work put into it, but above all director Richard Griffin, and co-writer Ted Marr, just didn't seem to have the skills to make this the more robust romp it could have been. I can only assume they've developed their craft in the time since, but 'Sister Wrath' just doesn't cut it. "Nun of that," indeed.

Ruggedly cute director Richard Griffin is back again with his newest movie, Nun of That.

This movie had me sucking my fingertips after eating my popcorn. Frequent Griffin alum, Jason McCormick, stands out as Father Thomas with his impressive chin. While Brandon Aponte's visibly chiseled pectorals make me wish he'd carry me away in his strong arms with his dreamy piercing stare.

The dashingly handsome Robert Buco plays Officer Cappicolla, just like the tasty cured meat product of the same name, I prefer the hot version of both. I'm guilty, put the cuffs on me and take me away Officer Cappicolla.

As an added surprise, Troma legend Lloyd Kaufman appears as the Pope which is a must see for any of his fans.

Run, don't walk, to this. Make sure to butter your popcorn first.

I simply couldn't believe what I was seeing...that was my first impression. 'They' just don't make movies like this. From start to finish, the entire audience was belly-shaking with laughter...I'm serious, there was so much laughter that many of the back-to-back jokes were lost in the noise. And these jokes are ruthless to all, and clever as hell. Sure some might find it shocking...but that's clearly not the point of the film...it's just a badass idea: a group of supernatural vigilante nuns that take on the mob? The film is shot in standard Griffin style--very clean, well composed, with a 70's style Italian cinema look. Very pleasing on all accounts. Richard doesn't try to impress you with lenses and adapters...he rocks the old-school (ha ha) 720p with panache. The film looks good, and the lighting is superbly stylized.

The sound design and music is as usual very well put together. For a 'low budget' film, you'll find that all sound is at a professional level--ADR is good, foley is great, and custom-written music is paced and form-fit and exciting. A few times you'll notice what appear to be canned foley sound effects, but with the charm of the film, they hardly get in the way.

The acting was pretty much all-around impressive. Everybody nails their characters, and brings something interesting to the table--and pretty much every cast member seems to understand comedic timing. Even the 'extras' in this film have chops. For a micro budget film, I'm telling you, the performances were stellar. OK, so you'll occasionally find a bit of a rotten tomato...but hey, that's OK...these are rare.

I really recommend this film to everyone (unless you're easily offended and/or highly religious with no sense of humor). It's laugh-out-loud funny, and really comes together nicely in a well-paced action comedy you'll likely not forget. I honestly think this could become a NYC midnight showing cult extravaganza.

ps. Anyone that openly trashes this film (*cough* you know who you are) and has nothing positive to say, is clearly a jealous competitor or a bitter jerk. I may be bias, but there is nothing one star about this picture...that's obviously a skewed opinion from a sour source.

Cheers.

Laughed my butt off. this effort by director Richard Griffin has an excellent sense of irony and irreverent humor combined with excellent comic pacing. I recommend seeing it more than once since you will very likely be laughing thru half the jokes the first time around. It's the story of an order of vigilante nuns (The Black Habit) with a special penchant for dealing justice out to evil mobsters. There's some soft-core nudity (always nice) and every conceivable variation of nun jokes and religious humor in general.

The violence is over the top bloody without being a gorefest.

Normally I'm not one for musical numbers, but this has some real rib ticklers. Where else are you going to laugh when Jesus does a song and dance with a bevy of leather-clad nuns providing backup?

What's really tasty is the cast. Sarah Nicklin simmers with sexual attitude, Brand Aponte is perfect as the angry mob avenger and the rest of the cast CAN ACTUALLY ACT! Incredible in a low budget film, I know, but it's true. This is one of the big redeeming factors here where most low budget efforts fall flat.

Don't get my wrong, I'm a big fan of badly acted low budget features. But in those instances the bad acting is the reason I laugh. I have a very MST3000 sense of humor. But not so here. Mr. Griffin has managed to corral some real talent and it makes all the difference. One laughs at the jokes, not at the acting. With him, not at him.

So do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Unless you're devoutly religious, you'll have a great time. And even if you are and have a sense of humor, you could still find yourself in stitches.

Another great flick from SFR and Richard Griffin and a grand cast of 10s!

A cult classic in the making for sure and no race, creed, ethnicity, religion or mob affiliation escapes ridicule in this stylistic Grindhouse/nunsploitation montage. More blood, pasta, habits, grenades, automatic weapons and young cloistered angst per inch of digital-celluloid then Tarantino could possibly imagine.

And the Jesus-meets-Busby-Berkley musical number is worth the price of admission by itself. I laughed, I cried, I choked on my rosary.

An absolute 9 out of 10. An open bar would have made it a 10.