TMS Movie Review: Jesus Revolution

(Dan Anderson / Lionsgate Entertainment)

Jon Erwin & Brent McCorkle’s new historical drama Jesus Revolution puts into perspective how much has evolved since that radical, crazy counter-culture half a century ago. Boys with long hair, girls with short hair, living out of wedlock, living in vans, playing drums in church. Things that come across incredibly quaint compared to anything progressive going on in 2023. Even the most traditional church in the south probably now allows guitars and drums during service. In Erwin & McCorkle’s film, we view a group of youths who are suddenly inspired to seek out religion after experiencing too many ‘good times’ as hippies. Quickly, young people who were once outcasts are now part of the same following as their parents’ generation. Hippies who still wear the same clothes and use the same vernacular, but have abandoned drugs and casual sex for Christianity. The funny thing is, this really did happen by the time the 1960s ended. You might already know this because quite a lot of classic rock musicians eventually became Christians by the late 1970s. Singer-songwriter Barry McGuire, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman of the Byrds, Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield, to name a few. This period from the late ‘60s to late ‘70s birthed the term ‘Jesus freak’ and the music subgenre Christian rock.

Jesus Revolution is based on Pastor Greg Laurie’s 2018 memoir with the same title about his early life in Newport Beach, CA. Greg here is played by Joel Courtney of Vincent Marcello’s The Kissing Booth movies (2018-2021). We get flashbacks of him growing up with a broken home in between his transition from teenage hippie to committed Evangelical in 1968-69. Anna Grace Barlow plays Greg’s steady girlfriend/future wife Cathe, who is also a flower child Christian; Kelsey Grammer is open-minded traditional pastor Chuck Smith; and Jonathan Roumie [most recognized as the son of God on Dallas Jenkins’ “The Chosen” (2019- )] portrays hippie friendly pastor Lonnie Frisbee; both of whom mentor Greg in different ways.

(Dan Anderson / Lionsgate Entertainment)

Like with most Christian based films, Jesus Revolution’s execution is a little too silly to either inspire or offend viewers with its message. Drugs are baaad, sex without love is empty, God’s love is empowering, everything will be fine if we all get along. The period piece is stacked with cliché after cliché, trope after trope. It’s also obvious Erwin and co-screenwriter Jon Gunn did not actually live in the ‘60s or properly educate themselves the time frame and culture. The final edit feels like the pair just read Laurie’s memoir, watched NBC’s “The ‘60s” (1999), and then immediately wrote the script. A quick online search on the real pastors will also show Jesus Revolution water-downed their personal histories as well; although I imagine that was the intent, and they were initially working around a PG rating. I will say though, two interesting aspects are that we see Lonnie and his wife Connie (Charlie Morgan Patton) take a break after experiencing marital problems; and the former is accused of using his platform for power-trips and enjoying his role as a leader more than spreading the faith. You generally don’t see issues like this included in spiritual features, and there is almost an acknowledgement on the very real issue that many of the hippie communes back then were run by egomaniacal, manipulative men.

Ultimately, Jesus Revolution isn’t the worst religious movie I’ve seen, but it’s also not unique enough to stay with me afterwards. For ‘60s nostalgia with a good classic rock soundtrack, you might as well stick to Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump (1994), as well as Norman Jewison’s Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) for this Easter season. Also, for as many predictabilities going on through our new release, it’s shocking the soundtrack supervisors didn’t find a way to shoehorn in Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’ or the Byrds’ cover of ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’