Baptists at Our Barbecue (2004)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Baptists at Our Barbecue" is about a forest ranger named clark, played by Steven Wayne Anderson, who throws off the shackles of his Utah upbringing to settle ANYWHERE out of state. He finds himself as the ranger for a town named Longfellow, disrespectfully referred to as Longwinded, where there stands a longtime rivalry between the Baptists and the Mormons. The town has the same amount of each in its entire population. Clark, a Mormon gent pushing 30, has to endure the nuances of small town life and the absurdity of the Mormon-Baptist rivalry. Eventually, he meets Charity, played by Heather Beers, who is in town visiting family and avoiding a tough breakup. The two fall for each other and plan an interfaith barbecue to help put the ridiculous rivalry behind them once and for all. The humor and down to earth portrayal of both faiths are this film's greatest strength, without becoming a recruitment poster for either faith as well. The picture was made by an LDS company (Latter Day Saints) and uses the character of Clark to show how young Mormons can be like anyone else when threatened or in a ridiculous situation. Based on the novel by Robert Farrell Smith--no relations to myself, the screenplay by F. Matthew Smith has a lot of good laughs and goes well out of its way to poke fun at small town life, thinking and people, without getting entirely stereotypical. I was raised in several small towns until I was 17 years old, and I could put a name to almost everyone depicted in the movie, whom I've met over those years. The weakest part of the movie was the third act of the romance between Clark and Heather. It got very done before and even ridiculous in the end. Very unbelievable, but up until then, the movie was very funny. Also, there were several opportunities where director Christian Vuissa could have made the imagery of the movie stronger. In the third act "chase," which all romantic comedies must have for some reason, the girl has a realization and returns to the barbecue, while Clark is with the town sheriff and his mother, driving around looking for her until word comes over the CB that Heather has returned. It would have been stronger and more romantic if the three pursuers found Heather walking back to the barbecue, after making her happy ending decision, and Clark could have gotten out of the sheriff's car and met her half way on the dirt road. Oh well. I didn't write it so... By the way, Heather Beers has some of the most amazing eyes. She's a true unknown hottie. She played the title role of the 2002 film Charly, if anyone's ever seen that one. Overall, "Baptists at Our Barbecue" is just good enough for me to seek out a couple other DVDs made by the same company. There were a couple of trailers on the DVD disc which look pretty well written and made, and they may find their way into my collection. The best thing about this picture, or this line of pictures, is that they use the company's faith as the setting of their story, rather than as a propaganda narrative. Good for them for just trying to make a decent movie. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
Wow, a movie made by an LDS production company that ISN'T about Joseph Smith! AND it's actually pretty funny!