TL;DR – An interesting exploration of the founding of a movement, but for all its strengths, it did feel like a shallow experience.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I did not pay to see this film.

Jesus Revolution Review –

Those not living in America might not know that an entire independent-ish scene of Christian-themed films is being produced. While I often get requests for reviews, I tend not to go down that road because there is a whole cultural conflict component that you must wade through, and also, they just tend not to be any good. Much like animation for young children, quality is unnecessary when you can guarantee people will watch it through church networks. But today’s film caught my eye because it has some studio polish behind it, and it also was able to recruit Kelsey Grammer, which was enough to intrigue me.

So to set the scene, it is the 1970s in southern California, and the world is full of the generational divide, war, sex, drugs, and a touch of Rock and Roll. Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) is in a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps questioning the military mantra that is being fed to him when he sees a girl named Cathe (Anna Grace Barlow), who leads him into the world of counterculture through the medium of a Janis Joplin concert. Meanwhile, in Calvary Chapel, pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) looks out at his dwindling congregation and laments that he struggles to reach the youth who he no longer understands. Well, one day, his daughter Janette (Ally Ioannides) fixes that problem when she gives a lift to Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a hippie and a gateway to a world Chuck is not ready for.   

There was a lot about Jesus Revolution that I found fascinating. The first is its exploration of an interesting movement that exploded onto the scene in the 1970s and has ramifications all the way into modern politics. It is a juxtaposition of two fundamentally different positions that caused a surge in popularity, and I always find explorations of juxtapositions fascinating. Indeed, when the film leans into this, it is at its strongest. For example, how Chuck navigates the clash between the old school and new church members. This is also a film with a message and a position it wants to put forward. It never gets too preachy, and it is upfront with this, unlike another 2023 film we will not be covering, which is more underhanded with its messaging.  

Greg is our audience surrogate as we watch him explore the many worlds of 1970s life. So thankfully, Joel Courtney has the charisma and depth to pull off a role like this. There was quite a lot of the film where I wondered why they got Kelsey Grammer to play such a one-note character, and then much like Emily Blunt in the recent Oppenheimer, you reach the point where you go, ‘Oh, that’s why you got him’. Also, if you are looking for someone to play your almost Jesus facsimile in your film, it does not hurt to get the guy who is known for playing Jesus. The emotion lands, and I was surprised by just how humorous it was in places.  

However, while I enjoyed this look into a moment of history, some frustrations with the movie accumulated during the run-time. From a production point of view, I liked the work they did on location, giving the film the expansive feel it needed. However, much of the set work was poorly lit. I am unsure if this was a capacity, budget, or even a stylistic choice, but it is hard to see an actor’s performance if half their face is in deep shadow. You can also feel a lot of the narrative shortcuts that the film used to fit this based on a true story into a standard three-act structure. This means that characters often turn into walking caricatures; worse, there are moments in this film where all nuance dies.

Narratively, this is a film of two halves. The first is the story of Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee and the rise of the Jesus Revolution at Calvary Chapel. The second is a biographical exploration of how Greg met his wife, Cathe, during this movement. These were two independently interesting real-life stories, but their integration here is quite messy. While I had some pre-knowledge about the theological positions at play before going in, you could feel a lot of hand waving and glossing over happening throughout the film, especially during the biographical end tag.    

In the end, do we recommend Jesus Revolution? Well, I think this is one of the better-produced films coming out of this genre, and its subject matter was intriguing. However, you could feel some areas of the film needed a lot more polish. If you liked Jesus Revolution, we would recommend to you Red, White & Brass.                  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched Jesus Revolution?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 


Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Jesus Revolution
Directed by – Jon Erwin & Brent McCorkle
Screenplay by – Jon Gunn & Jon Erwin
Based on – Jesus Revolution by Greg Laurie & Ellen Santilli Vaughn
Music by – Brent McCorkle
Cinematography by – Akis Konstantakopoulos
Edited by – John Pucket
Production/Distribution Companies – Kingdom Story Company, Lionsgate & Sony Pictures
Starring – Kelsey Grammer, Jonathan Roumie, Joel Courtney, Anna Grace Barlow, Jackson Robert Scott, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Nic Bishop, Nicholas Cirillo, Ally Ioannides, Julia Campbell, Mina Sundwall, DeVon Franklin, Charlie Morgan Patton, Jolie Jenkins & Shaun Weiss          
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: na; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13