Steve Deace wrote Nefarious, the latest Christian movie to hit theaters. I saw it and thought it was very good. Sean Patrick Flannery, of Boondock Saints fame, was excellent. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great take. The critics, however, disagree.
On his Twitter, Steve Deace showed the difference between the critics scores and the audience scores. It’s a bit telling, isn’t it?
As you can see, the difference between critics and audience for Nefarious is -67%. That’s insane.
So, on the one hand, it’s just flat out corruption, right? Yes. Many of these folks hate Christians and therefore attack the movie in order to influence others not to see it. Secondly, I think it’s just a lack of courage. Some of these critics knew that it was a good movie but lacked the courage to call it so for fear of being looked down upon by their peers. Thirdly, it is the fact that our worldview is so shocking to them that it actually jars them and brings them out of the movie experience.
You know how when we’re watching a movie, and all of a sudden the movie goes out of its way to spread a political message that’s not actually relevant to the plot and it wakes us up from the movie going experience because our suspension of disbelief ends. Well, any time these folks hear anything about our worldview, even if it’s consistent with the character and the plot of the movie, it’s just so shocking to them that they can’t enjoy the movie. They are so insulated in their bubble that just hearing someone espouse a pro-life opinion, even if the character is a pastor for whom it makes sense, is so shocking to them that it essentially ruins the movie going experience.
In short, it doesn’t really matter. When it comes to Christian movies we can’t trust the critics. I have a few people I trust when it comes to Christian movies who I trust but certainly not movie critics.
So go see Nefarious. Don’t trust critics. That’s the sum of my wisdom on this topic. Oh, and don’t get the popcorn. It just doesn’t taste as good as it used to. I don’t know if all the movie theater chains went to some kind of cheap popcorn but it kinda stinks.
