New Beginnings in the Old Hometown

I was looking for an appropriate film to post on Easter Sunday.  I, as per my wont, was looking for something a little quirky, but instead found this film.  It's definitely not one that would have appeared on my radar, since it has all the earmarks of a Hallmark movie, (egad!).  But the message of it appealed to me.

I invited my sister to watch it with me, She is a much more dedicated Christian than I am, and she liked it. I didn't have a whole lot of nitpicking to go with it myself.  The redemption message that is typical in Christian movies is a bit subdued, if you ask me, although I admit I haven't had much experience with these kinds of movies.  Do most of them wait until the last 10 minutes for the complete transformation of the main character? (I mean, in the end, despite all the change that seems to have been happening to Stone, he is STILL willing to ditch it all for his own purposes, up until the final 10 minutes, anyway.)

The film has mostly people I never even heard of, but it does have former wrestling star Shawn Michaels. It also had D. B. Sweeney as the pastor of the church for which the main character ends up doing community service.  Now Sweeney is a somewhat familiar face, especially if you've seen what is my favorite sports movie, Eight Men Out. (Sweeney plays Shoeless Joe Jackson in that one.)

The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (2017):

Gavin Stone (Brett Dalton) was a former child actor, who had been a darling of the TV world as the star of a TV series when he was young.  But as often happens (at least "often" in the Hollywood world of child actors), Stone has had some bad luck as an adult.  He is currently on trial for having done some bad things, including trashing a hotel room.  As his probation, he is required to do community service, which is to be done in his hometown at a local church.

The pastor of the church, Allen Richardson (D. B. Sweeney), lays down the law from the outset.  Gavin isn't going to just be able to waltz through his community service.  Pastor Allen expects Gavin to actually work. Which means, at the beginning his is pushing a mop....

In addition Gavin has to move in with his estranged widower father, Waylon (Neil Flynn), who is also not going to let Gavin just ride the easy wave.  

Gavin, of course, is still a bit manipulative, a leftover attribute from the easy life he had as an actor.  When he finds out that the church is going to put on a play on the life of Jesus, he does his best to get into it, because, not only is he an actor, but this would represent an easy way to get through his community service.

The play is being run by Kelly (Anjelah Johnson), who, eventually turns out to not just be another member of the church, but is in fact the pastor's daughter.  (Which makes it a bit difficult when Gavin tries to work his charms on her).  

Not to mention, one of the rules for being able to play a role in the play is that each member has to be a Christian and give his testimony.

Of course, Gavin is not a Christian.  But he is an actor, so he CAN pretend to be one. (Although how the rest of them aren't wise to his subterfuge from the outset is a bit perplexing.)

Gavin keeps trying to change the script and direction to put more emphasis on himself as the actor, this all despite the fact that he is cast as Jesus Christ, and his self-promotion as an actor is in direct contrast with the image that the person he is playing would exhibit.

Gavin eventually starts to come around to Kelly's way of thinking and it would seem that maybe, just maybe, he is having a change of outlook. Except that he gets a call from his agent that a primo part is available for him in L.A.  Despite all the effort he has put into the play, he decides to abandon it for the L.A. gig.

But, as usually happens in such movies, he finds the old Christian style luring him back and he deserts L.A. to go back to the church. Where, wonder of wonders, does he not only give a bravura performance as Jesus, but he may just decide to stay on for a bit longer. And probably will be a good real Christian in the mix.

Once again, the story does not rank in the kind of movies I usually do for this blog, but if you are among those of my readers with Christian values you might find this one a pretty good movie, whether for Easter or not.  For my part, I am going to spread it around tomorrow at church. Yes, I do go to church... hope you aren't surprised...

Quiggy