I Forgive You

I'm not a huge fan of the "Mormon" movie genre. There have been some good ones: Saints and Soldiers was great, on par I think with just about anything Hollywood has done recently. Brigham City and Best Two Years were quite good. Most of the others have been entertaining enough. But, they still usually showed an amateurish side. No problem I can cut them some slack.

Some stars have emerged from this effort. Corbin Allred is a great actor. But, that is evident even without his performance in Saints and Soldiers. I really like Kirby Heyborne (his accent in Saints and Soldiers first struck me as odd. But, I like it now.) and I'm still rooting for Richard Dutcher and Heather Beers. Ms. Beers is beautiful enough to make watching Baptists at our Barbecue tolerable. But, there were a couple too many slow ponderous pans of her that shouted "omygosh, she's soo beautiful, do you want to see her again?" She was in our ward about 10 years ago and I have to say I like the new lightened and frosted hair. Although I wouldn't have guessed that it would work so well.

I had seen trailers for Sons of Provo that made me want to see it. But, then I heard critiques and reviews that made me doubt. So I was ambivalent at best when any opportunity arose. My in laws bought the DVD and we watched it recently. Now, This is not a great movie. It may not even be that good. But, It works pretty well for me. We didn't necessarily laugh out loud. But, did a lot of giggling. There are some gags still that are a little over the top, not subtle enough. This problem will probably plague the "Mormon" genre for some time. But, the music and the Boy Band performances were spot on. I still don't love Will Swenson as an actor. But, the music that he and Jenny Frogley wrote is crammed with talent. They could have written for any of the Boy Bands. Vocally all three leads are very strong. To my ear Danny Tarasevich may have the best voice in the group, which is saying something.

The scene our family liked the best was the one with the girl (Rachel Emmers) who was "confused" at the rap music. She did a fantastic job. I also liked Kirby serenading on guitar under the moonlight when their manager pulls out her trombone to accompany him and the device of having the boys riding bicycles in "Spirichal As Me" and changing their pedaling tempo when the music does.