Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul movie review: Regina Hall steals the show

If you read my most anticipated movies of the Sundance Film Festival article, I highlighted Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul as my top film. Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown in an expose of the mega church, I was so ready to be preached, too.

"“God don’t like ugly”"

When a film starts, you already know you are in for a treat and that’s the feeling I got from the moment Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul began. Trinity and Lee-Curtis Childs reel us into their world and what they are building within the church.

Pastor Lee-Curtis (Sterling K. Brown) and his wife, Trinity Childs (Regina Hall), are preparing to reopen their church after a major scandal. They have a film crew with them filming their every move, only answering the questions they want to and highlighting their relationship, possessions, and basically anything but the word of God. How writer/director Adamma Ebo sets the stage to show us how selfish these two are is brilliant. You right out the gate understand the story, how they got to where they are and the lies they are willing to tell to get it all back.

Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall share incredible chemistry in Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul

The incredible chemistry between Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall made for a hilarious mocking of the megachurch. While they are playing roles that are supposed to be serious, we know that the script is written in a very sarcastic tone. But, they understood the assignment and ran with it.

When you have a megachurch pastor, there is a way they walk, they talk and how they carry themselves and Sterling K. Brown depicts this in a way that is so surreal and spot on you can help but see him transformed as Lee-Curtis Childs. Megachurch preachers are loud proud and use every notion of the word of God in their favor, not in favor of their church. Brown gives the performance of his career.

Regina Hall is magnificent and I wouldn’t even say as Brown’s sidekick, I would say she is equally responsible for the words and the power coming from him. She challenges him in every way and we see Hall give us a performance we all knew she was capable of providing, but my goodness, does she stand tall in this. Far too early for awards conversation, but with the right studio and right push behind her, Hall could be in the awards conversation, especially with that final monologue.

Adamma Ebo is a name to watch out for in the future when it comes to writing and directing. Watching how this was shot and how she moved the camera to enrich the story, you wouldn’t know that this was her first feature film. She perfectly laid out this script with these two characters, who are so easy to hate but had us so engulfed in their story, journey, and clinging onto every word.

Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul exposes the megachurch most authentic way in how they highlight that not every Pastor is out for the church’s good. The idea that some get so big that they lose sight of what got them where they are, it’s brilliant from start to finish. It’s equal parts funny as it is scary.