Review of The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (2017) by Brian B — 16 Jan 2017

In Theaters on January 20th.

Guaranteed you will laugh out loud, likely you will cry and cheer as well, as you get the opportunity to peer into a slice of life in this character driven comedy drama with broad appeal. The Resurrection of Gavin Stone is an exceptional script using a "fish out of water" story telling formula to effectively pull off the delicate balance of engaging and likable characters, anecdotal comedy and is sprinkled with sidesplitting humor. Brett Dalton is perfectly cast to play the role 'Gavin Stone' an arrogant self-centered childish man who runs into trouble with the law. Gavin Stone is an actor with tremendous talent, a 'has-been' child star. After his mom's death and endless string of indulgent partying left him out of the scene and off the screen for years. One "off the hook rager" lands Stone sentenced with 200 hours of state mandated community service hours to be served at local Masonville Bible Church. A party boy in a church lends itself to a hilarious string of missteps that make you laugh and still love seeing the changes in Gavin as he engages with the locals and eventually come to care about more than just himself. Stone gets out of mopping bathrooms by playing Jesus Christ in the Church's stage production. Three quirky characters, local church boys, come around Gavin to help him, and he in turn then helps them be better actors in the play. You will love these 3 amigos. John Mark - hilarious bible nerd with a heart of gold. Anthony - a wanna be actor and über Stone fan boy. And the most surprising character, Doug. Doug is a tough guy biker, dedicated to helping others in need, played convincingly by Shawn Michaels. At the same time, Gavin has a volatile relationship with his father (played by Neil Flynn) and a budding interest in Kelly (Anjelah Johnson-Reyes) the director of the play, who by the way is the Pastors Daughter. This movie may be categorized in the Faith Based Movie genre and still will appeal to the larger market of movie-goers as a top shelf feel good inspirational drama. The Resurrection of Gavin Stone sits next to my favorite inspirational films, sports dramas, and 'It A Wonderful Life' type films that I truly enjoy with the entire family. In short, it's a must see!