Review of What Would Jesus Buy? (2007) by E F — 10 Nov 2008

Maybe it was because I was tired when I started watching this film, but I just didn't find it, or Reverend Billy, very entertaining. He seems like just another crazy street preacher in Times Square who is funny, but only because he's got a few screws loose, not because he necessarily can deliver funny lines.

I agree with the message 100% that we should stop shopping so much, but this group's satirical performance art, half-staged performance doesn't seem to get this message through clearly. At times, the movie itself seemed to lack focus, going from stopping shopping because of the risk of debt, to attacking Walmart for driving small businesses out of business, to pondering the question indicated by the title, "What would Jesus buy?" Is the point that all consumerism is bad, or that buying products from sweat shops bad? Well, if one should buy sweat-free products, it costs more, so a person may have to spend more and thus get more credit cards and more debt.

Anyway, I still agree with the fact that consumerism is evil and addicting, and Mickey Mouse maybe is the anti-christ, but I guess I don't get the big appeal of Reverend Billy.