|
New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums
34
10,000 B.C.
37
Air I Breathe, The
52
Be Kind Rewind
47
Boarding Gate
46
Bonneville
42
Bucket List, The
70
Caramel
49
Cassandra's Dream
44
Chaos Theory
54
Charlie Bartlett
64
Chronicle of an Escape
78
Control
30
Cover
66
Darfur Now
59
Definitely, Maybe
36
Eye, The
46
Finishing the Game
35
Flakes
38
Flash Point
57
Flawless
29
Fool's Gold
41
Funny Games
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
65
Grace Is Gone
65
Great Debaters, The
57
Hammer, The
68
Honeydripper
67
In Bruges
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
35
Jumper
58
Lost in Beijing
41
Mad Money
9
Meet the Spartans
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
50
Other Boleyn Girl, The
90
Persepolis
44
Rails & Ties
46
Rambo
36
Remember the Daze
47
Semi-Pro
63
Signal, The
62
Spiderwick Chronicles, The
12
Strange Wilderness
59
Under the Same Moon
32
Untraceable
55
Walker, The
46
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
60
What Would Jesus Buy?
51
Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland
17
Witless Protection
43
Youth Without Youth
90
Persepolis
78
Control
70
Caramel
68
Honeydripper
67
In Bruges
66
Darfur Now
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
65
Grace Is Gone
65
Great Debaters, The
64
Chronicle of an Escape
63
Signal, The
62
Spiderwick Chronicles, The
60
What Would Jesus Buy?
59
Under the Same Moon
59
Definitely, Maybe
58
Lost in Beijing
57
Flawless
57
Hammer, The
55
Walker, The
54
Charlie Bartlett
52
Be Kind Rewind
51
Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland
50
Other Boleyn Girl, The
49
Cassandra's Dream
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Boarding Gate
47
Semi-Pro
46
Finishing the Game
46
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
46
Bonneville
46
Rambo
44
Rails & Ties
44
Chaos Theory
43
Youth Without Youth
42
Bucket List, The
41
Mad Money
41
Funny Games
38
Flash Point
37
Air I Breathe, The
36
Eye, The
36
Remember the Daze
35
Jumper
35
Flakes
34
10,000 B.C.
32
Untraceable
30
Cover
29
Fool's Gold
17
Witless Protection
12
Strange Wilderness
9
Meet the Spartans
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
What Would Jesus Buy?
Palisades Pictures
 |
|
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG for mild language
Starring
Bill Talen,
and
Savitri D
From producer Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me") and director Rob VanAlkemade comes a serious docu-comedy about the commercialization of Christmas. Bill Talen was a lost idealist who hitchhiked to New York City only to find that Times Square was becoming a mall. Spurred on by the loss of his neighborhood and inspired by the sidewalk preachers around him, Bill bought a collar to match his white caterer's jacket, bleached his hair and became the Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Since 1999, Reverend Billy has gone from being a lone preacher with a portable pulpit preaching on subways, to the leader of a congregation and a movement whose numbers are well into the thousands.
Through retail interventions, corporate exorcisms, and some good old-fashioned preaching, Reverend Billy reminds us that we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. What Would Jesus Buy? is a journey into the heart of America – from exorcising the demons at the Wal-Mart headquarters to taking over the center stage at the Mall of America and then ultimately heading to the Promised Land … Disneyland. (Palisades Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Rob VanAlkemade
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: May 27, 2008
Theatrical: November 16, 2007
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
90 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The stripped-down filmmaking preserves the abruptness and surprise of the happy (and unhappy) accidents Reverend Billy finds at every stop along the way, from Manhattan to Anaheim.
75
Chicago Tribune
Jessica Reaves
It’s a wickedly effective indictment of America’s consumer compulsion, our mindless shopping and the multinational corporations controlling it all.
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Entertaining and eye-opening.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Encourages viewers to think outside the big box of super stores such as Wal-Mart.
75
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Steeped in what may be the ultimate postmodern irony: Talen's impromptu, defiant piece of performance art with political undertones has actually taken on a spiritual dimension.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Walter Addiego
The character isn't just shtick, though. As Billy, Talen has staged many protests in Times Square and anti-shopping "interventions" at retailers, where the managers, to say nothing of the New York police, often have failed to see the humor - he's been arrested dozens of times.
70
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Crust
Loud, proud and cheeky, the film runs roughshod over corporate behemoths Disney, Starbucks and Wal-Mart as it preaches a sermon of simplicity and consumer awareness.
70
Village Voice
Julia Wallace
Much like Spurlock's hit "Super Size Me," this production is slick, well-paced, and tremendously entertaining.
70
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Must-see viewing for anyone who thinks of Christmas as just a mall and its night visitors.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Gregory Kirschling
The movie has a sharp point -- Americans shop too much -- but it's a problem that its bellowing hero, always accompanied by his red-robed Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, is so off-putting; a crazy guy who wouldn't sound so crazy if he just didn't act so crazy.
63
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Fairly entertaining, repetitive exhortations of a televangelist who looks like Kurt Russell playing Elvis Presley with 12 additional teeth.
60
The Hollywood Reporter
Sheri Linden
Despite effective moments, VanAlkemade's film is too diffuse. He gives us snippets of the group's spirited performances, but their effect on audiences remains unclear.
60
The New York Times
Laura Kern
At the very least, the documentary What Would Jesus Buy? might make a viewer think twice about that next purchase at the Gap.
50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
You know that deflated feeling you get after you've spent a lot of time and money shopping - and have little to show for your efforts? This disappointing biography, about performance artist Reverend Billy, does an awfully good job recreating it.
40
Austin Chronicle
Josh Rosenblatt
True believers make for sloppy documentarians and that What Would Jesus Buy? is stuck in neutral because of its director’s almost total lack of intellectual and psychological curiosity.
33
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Noel Murray
It's neither conceptually bold nor slyly satirical when Billy dresses up as a Southern evangelical and sings made-up hymns about "the shopacalypse."
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|
GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
