"God's Not Dead 2" Review

Did you ever see Birdman?

Of course you did.

Remember that scene where Michael Keaton drunkenly walks past a crazy guy (Bill Camp)screaming at the top of his lungs? I've referenced his quote before - it's from Shakespeare's Macbeth - "it's a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

I bring up Birdman to borrow Camp's sentiment: the anguish and rage, desperation and melancholia that he knows will rattle only on deaf ears.

So look at this scene...

(Skip to 2:22)

And imagine it's me yelling about God's Not Dead 2.

In the sequel to Pureflix's popular Christian drama, Melissa Joan Hart plays Grace Wesley, an Arkansas high school teacher who gets in trouble where her answer to a student's question brings up Jesus' teachings. The student's parents are offended, and the school board asks Ms. Wesley to apologize. She refuses, defending her right to speak her beliefs, and the parents file a lawsuit. 

On Grace's side is a non-believing rookie lawyer (Jesse Metcalfe) assigned to her by the teachers' union. On the parents' side is an anti-Christian prosecutor (Ray Wise) from the ACLU, taking the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He hopes to prove once and for all - in a line so deliciously overdone, it's only missing an evil laugh and lightning - that "God is DEAD!" 

What follows is the courtroom equivalent of "David vs. Goliath" and by this point, if you've ever seen a movie, you know how this ends.

Grace is aware of the implications surrounding talking about Jesus in school - Hart sells her hesitation well - and the dialogue tiptoes through the incident, conveying to any rational person that she's not preaching. Sure, this makes the opposition look trigger-happy, but it also shoots the movie in the foot. So much of the movie is spent arguing the separation of church and state; prophesying a doomsday scenario for religious liberty; even arguing the existence of Jesus Christ as a historical figure. (Maybe it's because I was raised in a Baptist home, but I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that Jesus, at least as a guy, existed.) This lengthens what should be a 20-minute case by an hour.

"But Daniel," you ask. "Isn't the movie two hours long?" Why yes, reader, yes it is. The remaining forty minutes go to subplots. Like the first, the movie rips off Magnolia or Crash (take your pick) in having four to five separate story lines that (occasionally) weave into each other. 

This is where most of the recurring characters from God's Not Dead lie: Amy (Trisha LaFache) questions her atheism after her cancer suddenly goes in remission; Martin (Paul Kwo) develops his new-found faith to his father's dismay; Pastor Dave (David A.R. White, founder of Pureflix, but better known on the Internet for the following clip*) deals with a jury summons and a random subpoena meant to acquire transcripts of his sermons. These stories and many more are edited into the narrative so sloppily, it feels like a TV-watching session where I started with an episode of Law and Order, got bored, and started channel-surfing.

*David A.R. White in Second Glance

The whole affair feels like the weekly list of grievances from the evangelical right. While the stereotypes aren't as shockingly offensive as the first, and Martin's subplot could be worked into a respectable sequel of its own, it just doesn't warrant that much thought or outcry. To borrow again from the Bard, God's Not Dead 2 is much ado about nothing.

Thank you all for reading. I'm the Man Without a Plan, signing off.