INRI

Watching this short film, I was reminded of the scene in Brian DePalma's SCARFACE when Tony Montana is drunk and yelling in a crowded restaurant: "You need people like me, so you can point your (blanking) fingers and say 'there goes the bad guy!'"

Perhaps Christians need people like Emerson Bixby, the veritable poster-child for sacrilege who conceived INRI, as a warning to atheists everywhere.

A manic cross between Lenny Bruce and Robin Williams, Bixby doesn't care where or how far he goes to get a laugh. In this case; probably straight to Hell. I'll avoid details, suffice to say INRI goes above and beyond the realm of unacceptable humor, pushing the envelope from "oh, no, you didn't" to "how dare you!". Nothing is sacred; not Jesus, not the Virgin Mary, not even God, himself. INRI is a quintessential train-wreck of bad-taste, and I found myself more outraged with each passing moment, every line of dialogue delving further and further into blasphemous muck.

Having said this, I laughed throughout. Despite the fact that INRI is brazenly contemptible by any moral standard, despite the fact that I was shocked, offended, and downright insulted, I could not stop laughing from start to finish. I'm still seething because INRI is so mercilessly offensive to my beliefs. When I began typing, I clicked on one, the lowest rating possible. I wanted to give it a minus ten. And yet, I'm still laughing. And I can't wait to watch it again. And I can't wait for my husband to see it. So in the spirit of fairness, I have to judge INRI objectively. And objectively, it's laugh-out-loud comic genius.

Understand, I believe in God, and I believe all the kudos and all the praise in the world won't be much comfort to Bixby on Judgement Day. As a Christian, I believe INRI is perhaps the most vile and objectionable film ever to come from Hollywood. However, as a person who enjoys to laugh, I have nothing to complain about.

What if Jesus and Judas were Grifters, one pretending to be a messiah so the other can sell him out? What if the fake Messiah manages to get himself crucified, just as they were about to escape with thirty pieces of silver? What if the fake Messiah has to bribe all of the Roman guards with sexual favors in order to escape, and what if his followers now think he's risen from the dead? Would Jesus and Judas hang up their hats and get while the getting's good, or would they take their scam to the next level? After all, a Born Again God is more profitable than a lowly Messiah.

I've watched this five times now and I can't stop laughing, right down to the Brokeback Mountain ending and the funny credits. SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

And remember; Han shot first...

two con men trick the Romans out of thirty pieces of silver, and....... I'm not going to give it away, except this movie is sooooooo much funnier than most of the big comedies currently in theaters. It reminds me of some of Mel Brooks movies like "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" and especially "History of the World Part 1", where Brooks parodied Moses, only this movie is funnier.

I'm sure lot of religious people who hated "DeVinci Code" and "Last Temptation of Christ" will hate this movie as well, but it's really really funny. "DeVinci Code" was pseudo-dramatic, and "Last Temptation of Christ" was just boring. "INRI" is short and sweet, and the most you'll ever laugh in five minutes time.

They should do this as a full-length movie! I want to see Jesus bribe all the guards ;)

OK seriously, how wrong is it that this is so funny? Jesus and Judas creating Christianity as a scam? Judas nailing the (not so pure) Virgin Mary, while Jesus's real father is a nameless paying customer? Jesus walking off with Judas, saying 'I wish I could quit you', like a cowboy on Brokeback. Certainly not too Kosher, but very very funny.

The guy who made this will probably end up in hiding along with Salman Rushdie (who angered millions of Arabs with his book 'Satanic Vursas' and promptly went underground). Hopefully a few fundamentalists will put their Bibles away long enough to laugh, but most of them will probably want blood.

INRI is the sign they hung over Jesus Christ's head when he was crucified, and now it's the title of an offensive little movie that defiantly spits in the face of Christianity, but you might find yourself too busy laughing to be all that offended. I'm reminded of Borat and Bruno, movies that hold no punches and don't care who they offend or how. INRI doesn't go to the R-rated raunchy laughs as do so many of today's films, yet it manages to be twice as funny and ten times as offensive, right up to and including the "based on characters created by Christianity" credits. INRI was produced by the people who made The Man From Earth, a much better film that also isn't very religious-friendly. I'd like to give INRI a ten out of ten, but the production value isn't up to par with the material. Still, if you like in-your-face LOL comedy...