Faith Based (film)

{{more plot|date=April 2022}}

Childhood friends Luke and Tanner, now both in their 30s, live together in a rental home in Reseda, where they smoke copious amounts of marijuana. Luke's adoptive father Mike, who is a church pastor, berates Luke for his lack of motivation, despite being in jeopardy of losing his own church. Pastor Mike observes that some churches have found financial success by producing faith-based films. This gives Luke the idea to make a Christian film of his own and use the profits to save Mike's church.

Luke and Tanner take a meeting with Jane, the head of acquisitions for ChristFlix, a distributor of Christian films. Jane explains the specific formula for a successful Christian film: an openly Christian star, Christian terminology in the title, a peril-driven plot, and discussion of Christian themes. Luke and Tanner decide to call their film A Prayer in Space, about an astronaut trapped on Mars and praying for rescue, thus making him the first person to pray outside of Earth. They recruit Butch Savage, an actor whose career in action films is on the decline, to play God.

{{castlist|

• Luke Barnett as Luke
• Tanner Thomason as Tanner
• Lance Reddick as Pastor Mike
• Jason Alexander as Nicky Steele
• Margaret Cho as Jane
• David Koechner as Butch Savage
• Christoph Sanders as Hoyt
• Carly Craig as Brandy
• Richard Riehle as Herman
• Danielle Nicolet as Tiffany
• Lisa Schwartz as Lisa
• Chris Marquette as Hans
• Danny Woodburn as Jimmy
• David Ury as Gerry
• Ashlynn Yennie as Ashlynn
• Mark Borchardt as Mark
• Nadia Bjorlin as Katie

}}

After Barnett and Masciale made their first film together and it premiered at Tribeca, they had hoped to be able to get studio funding to make another film, but spent two years unsuccessfully pitching ideas. When the faith based film God's Not Dead 3 came out, Barnett joked "we should just make a Christian movie, and use the proceeds to make our stuff." Barnett started writing in December 2018 and completed the script by February 2019, and started shooting in May.{{cite web |date=9 October 2020 |author=Danielle Solzman |title=Luke Barnett talks Faith Based |url=http://www.solzyatthemovies.com/2020/10/09/luke-barnett-talks-faith-based/ |website=Solzy at the Movies }}

The film was made on a very low budget, and financed off of credit card borrowing. Filming locations included their own homes and the homes of family and friends, as well as the bar where they use to work at, and a local church they use to attend also.{{cite web |date=8 October 2020 |title=D.C. Native Luke Barnett Talks About His New Film Faith Based |url=https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/415416/d-c-native-luke-barnett-talks-about-his-new-film-faith-based/ |website=Washington City Paper |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201009140548/https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/415416/d-c-native-luke-barnett-talks-about-his-new-film-faith-based/ |archive-date= October 9, 2020 }} The film was shot in 15 days, across a dozen locations.

{{Anchor|Casting}}

For the role of Butch Savage, they had originally wanted to cast an actual '80s action star in the role, but rewrote the part as a fictional character and hoped to cast a comedic actor instead. They were pleasantly surprised when David Koechner said yes to playing the role.

Jason Alexander joined the film in July 2019.{{cite web |date=10 July 2019 |last=N'Duka |first=Amanda |title=Jason Alexander Boards Indie Comedy 'Faith Based' |url=https://deadline.com/2019/07/jason-alexander-faith-based-luke-barnett-comedy-1202644338/ |website=Deadline Hollywood }}

The film premiered at Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January 2020.{{cite web |author1=Alex Ritman |title=Christian Film Industry Satire 'Faith Based' Takes Swipe at Breitbart, Fox News in Teaser (Exclusive) |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/christian-films-satire-faith-based-swipes-at-breitbart-fox-news-teaser-1265499 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=2020-01-02}}

The film was released October 9, 2020, across most major video-on-demand platforms.{{cite web |date=September 1, 2020 |author=Jeremy Konrad |title=Watch The Trailer For New Comedy Faith Based, Releasing October 9th |url=https://bleedingcool.com/movies/faith-based-trailer-jason-alexander-vod-theaters-october/ |work=Bleeding Cool |quote=The film is presented by MPX, produced by Lone Suspect, in association with Title Media with Gravitas Ventures serving as the distributor. }}{{cite web |title=Faith Based |url=https://geni.us/faithbased |website=geni.us }}

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of {{RT data|score}}, based on reviews from {{RT data|count}} critics, with an average rating of {{RT data|average}}. The site's consensus states: "Faith Ba$ed affectionately skewers faith-based filmmaking while offering a surprisingly nuanced look at friendship and belief."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/faith_based|title=Faith Based (2020)|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango|access-date={{RT data|access date|df=iso}}}} On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100, based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.{{cite web |title=Faith Based |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/faith-based |website=Metacritic |access-date=2020-10-20 }}

Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Masciale and screenwriter Luke Barnett, both Funny or Die regulars, have crafted a playfully humorous sendup that's more about poking fun at their characters than tearing down faith-based filmmaking."{{cite web |date=2020 |author=Justin Lowe |author-link=Justin Lowe |title='Faith Based': Film Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/faith-based-santa-barbara-2020-1277725 |website=The Hollywood Reporter }} Norman Gidney at Film Threat called it "a surprisingly lighthearted romp that is more Guffman than Spinal Tap. A good-natured comedy that, while not always funny, remains as sincere as The Book of Mormon. No, really, that is a massive compliment."{{cite web |date=February 19, 2020 |author=Norman Gidney |title=Faith Ba$ed |url=https://filmthreat.com/reviews/faith-baed/ |website=Film Threat }} Grant Hermanns of ComingSoon.net gave it 8 out of 10 and wrote: "Faith Based ultimately proves to be a really charming, very smart and frequently funny ride with a unique satirical target and a sweet cast."{{cite web |date=19 October 2020 |author=Grant Hermanns |title=Faith Based Review: A Charming & Sharp Religious Film Satire |url=https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/reviews/1152391-faith-based-review-a-charming-sharp-religious-film-satire |website=ComingSoon.net }}

Michael Ordona of the Los Angeles Times gave it a mixed review: "Is Faith Based the answer to the prayers of comedy-starved movie buffs? Not entirely, but it's no plague of locusts, either."{{cite web |date=8 October 2020 |author=Michael Ordona |title=Review: Two buddies' get-rich scheme is 'Faith Based' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-10-08/review-faith-based-hollywood-satire |website=Los Angeles Times }}

Roger Moore at Movie Nation called it "basically a 90 minute swing-and-a-miss",{{cite web |author=Roger Moore |title=Movie Review: So is this "Faith Ba$ed" comedy worth all the Fox-Breitbart furor? |url=https://rogersmovienation.com/2020/02/06/movie-review-so-is-this-faith-baed-comedy-worth-all-the-fox-breitbart-furor/ |website=Movie Nation |date=6 February 2020}} and Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times called it "abysmally unfunny."{{cite web |date=8 October 2020 |last=Kenigsberg |first=Ben |title='Faith Ba$ed' Review: Praying for Laughs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/movies/faith-baed-review.html |website=The New York Times |url-access=registration }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://faithbasedmovie.com/}}
• {{IMDb title|10260692|Faith Based}}

Category:2020 films

Category:2020 comedy films

Category:American comedy films

Category:2020s English-language films

Category:2020s American films

Category:English-language comedy films