Pastor Shepherd

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.

I watched this movie based on the reviews I've seen here. Unfortunately, I am now completely convinced that my personal tastes are a literal light year and a fathom away from the tastes of other viewers.

This movie was just painful. The story moves on at a torturous pace, and is filled with dialog that is funny at first, but gets old very quickly. The characters are absolutely just bizarre, and a few of them make no sense at all. The protagonist, Mr. Shepherd, has the intelligence of a "dumb and dumber" type hero, and much of the film centers around him describing the world from his point of view. In light of that, I highly suggest you remove your brain before watching. Perhaps leave it in a jar by your bed. You know, someplace you won't lose it, and won't feel guilty for not having it on you for the evening.

Danny Trejo is as good as he can be with what he was given, but that's still no reason to put his face on the cover with a baseball bat. It's very misleading, because this movie is not about him.

I'm rating this movie at a 5. It was not the worst movie I've ever seen and did have one or two good moments. The best parts are the over-generalizations of the TV evangelists who are used-car-salesman type preachers. Fun to watch, but still just a play on a stereotype. Not very original. Production value was quite good, it was only difficult to watch because of it's content, not because of it's plot cohesion or filming.

All in all, I did not enjoy it. But to each their own, apparently some others did.

Pastor Shepherd is a well loved figure on his Prayer Hour. To see how he has come to reality is a terrific story of how some strange evangelists end up in the "business"

I truly believe Pastor Shepherd is as qualified as any TV dude who is trying to raise funds for the cause!!!! The question is, whose cause.

Watch it for what it is intended. Clearing the brain and soul of all the goofed up statements you hear and look to the innocence of the true Gospel. Thank you Pastor Shepherd, you are my checks and balances system for bad theology. We love you.....

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"

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.