Tonally disjointed but at times hilarious, Adamma Ebo’s feature adaptation of her popular short seems to have taken a misguided shape. This religious satire that episodically skewers the theatrics of flamboyant televangelists promoting prosperity theology may seem more fitting for a web series or a much shorter film. Despite the brilliance of its leads, Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. runs out of steam as it rapidly switches modes between faux-documentary and drama.
Inspired by countless megachurch scandals, including preachers like Ted Haggard who seem obsessed with homosexuality (usually a clue they’re having their own reckoning), pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) and first lady Trinitie (Regina Hall) find themselves at a crossroads. Well-funded megachurch preachers who believe their followers would prefer to hear the gospel from a sharp-dressed preacher with a closet full of Prada, they’ve fired the deacons who questioned the couple’s excessive lifestyle. Much of their scandals appear off-camera, whether in reports or in the court of public opinion in Atlanta (aka callers to radio stations).
Trinitie, the first lady of the church, recruits a few of the remaining congregation to participate in a documentary they’ve commissioned about their comeback scheduled for Easter Sunday. They defend their pastor despite his sex scandals by saying “he’s got so much love; he should spread it far and wide.” Others are more candid, including an aspiring child actor who is part of his flamboyant sermon as she realizes it’s all theatrics.
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. feels like a film of several missed opportunities, forced into the ground rules that Ebo has established for this world. For instance, the Childs rarely interact with the documentary crew, instead choosing to show off rather than battle for creative control of their project. The film also veers into “off-camera” drama, framing events that occur outside of the faux-doc in cinemascope as the Childs have intimate moments alone and do things like check out their competition: a new mega-church in the making from a younger couple, the Sumpters.
Despite early moments of hilarity, the timing seems a bit off—jokes tend to run far longer than appreciated, including an excruciatingly labored final act as Trinitie takes to the sidewalk to call attention to their reopening in whiteface. Cutting 20 minutes from the film would certainly be a start toward sharpening its tone.
What stands out are some of the stronger moments from the short, including Trinitie’s mall encounter with a church-goer where they face-off in a comedy of manners and competition that plays out with phrase “bless your heart” after a trip to a luxury bonnet shop. Honk for Jesus is simultaneously too long and too restrained. Perhaps the Childs are the problem––they’ve built an empire of luxury from the collection plate every Sunday but have never quite branched out or aspired to be a global brand like T.D. Jakes, which could have opened more comic possibilities. Having two terrific stars front and center isn’t nearly enough when they’re only given permission to run wild in this small of a playground.
Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.