Don Verdean

Its intentions are, to some degree, corrective: It mocks some of the popular corruptions of faith so as to invite the audience to reflect upon what real faith might be.

This is ninety minutes of comic actors having a genial go at middle-of-the-road material. It doesn’t have any guts, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t funny.

There’s a sense that the goings-on are more quirky than comical.

The normally dependable Rockwell seems uncertain of what to do with Verdean.

If the film is any indication, Jared and Jerusha Hess remain committed to clotting up the screen with ostensibly charming "eccentricity."

Don Verdean is the sort of comedy which presumes its own hilarity long before it gets around to telling any actual jokes, or staging anything that might otherwise be considered funny.

Rockwell is charmless in a role that seems to be written that way.

A mediocre Hess film is still...quite enjoyable. I would say its probably his worst film (have not seen Nacho Libre). The acting is good and the premise is **** it has some of the silly humor of his films to make it very watchable, **** also is a bit more serious than other Hess films at times, there aren't as many jokes, and mainly, it was like the story was not as well written as his other films, particularly character and their backstories. Napolean Dynamite is such an interesting character, with so much detail and backstory that it makes the film really shine. Wheras in this film we know very very little about Don Verdean, or really any of the characters. Very shallow kindof characters that just serve their purpose so it would have been better if it was better written, as it seems to have been sortof hastily written and done compared to his other more enjoyable films. (Gentleman Broncos being my favorite..also much detail in that film..with a story within a story...) Bottom line if you like Jared Hess's other films you will probably at least somewhat enjoy this film, but its not his best work. I enjoyed it for the silly humor and story premise, but a lot was left unfulfilled.

Don't let the movie snobs ruin this. IMHO, Don Verdean is a solid Jared Hess movie. Jemaine Clement is great, Sam Rockwell gives probably his most transformative performance, and Danny McBride is Danny McBride, and who's better to play an evangelical minister paying lots of money for the recovery of holy relics. It's funny, yo.

I thought the movie was quite boring. Maybe just wasn't my type of movie as many here are comparing it to Napoleon Dynamite type of movie and Napoleon wasn't one of my favorites either. There were funny moments and I get the whole satire idea, but either way, you have to like that type of comedy to be into this movie, if you don't, then it will be quite boring for most of the time.

A horrificly conflicted, lazy, and atonal rushjob. You can tell that many of the actors may have been directed to do the scenes without expressing anything that they can do so well, what people enjoy about them. Its all a cynical hollow unfunny pantomime, with such obvious childish propoganda. And as is the general rule nowadays, Sam Rockwell is right there to enter on bended knee to save the day, despite being a piece of crap himself. Loathsome and embarrassing. Oh, i nearly forgot the score. It was confusing as to why they put dramatic epic music despite us knowing the whole thing was a preposterous setup.