Grade: B
Religious niche films have been growing in popularity and quality in recent years, and Halestorm Entertainment's new comedy, "The Singles Ward," broadens the genre even more. Led by comic actor Will Swenson, the film takes a sweet, irreverent look at the Mormon dating scene that Mormons will find hilarious and non-Mormons will find both amusing and confusing.
With its insider's dialogue and jokes, Latter-day Saints-themed songs and cameos by celebrities whom only Mormons will recognize, "The Singles Ward" isn't likely to draw an audience outside the Mormon fold ---- and perhaps that's just what writer/director Kurt Hale wants. An inside look at Mormon life by Mormons and for Mormons.
"The Singles Ward" follows the life of Jonathan Jordan (Swenson), a stand-up comic who has fallen away from his Mormon faith since getting a divorce (from a Mormon-convert wife). Despite the efforts of his geeky friends ----- Eldon (Daryn Tufts), Hyrum (Michael Birkeland) and Dallon (Kirby Heyborne) ----- and church elders (former San Diego Padres first baseman Wally Joyner, among others) ---- nothing can entice Jordan to re-enter the church's singles "ward" until he meets pretty nurse's assistant Cammie Giles (Connie Young). His confident swagger and lack of spirituality are a turnoff to Cammie, though, and he spends the balance of the film trying to prove his faith (both in her and, later, the church) to win her heart.
"The Singles Ward" has a quirky style reminiscent of John Hughes' "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," with the warmly likable Swenson liberally addressing the camera directly with his wry asides and jokes. There are lots of laughs in the script, and many of them poke harmless fun at the Mormon faith.
Jonathan's slide to the "dark side" shows him renting all three "Die Hard" films, unblocking the MTV network cable feed on his TV and buying a six-pack of non-Mormon-approved soda pop. Nerdy Eldon and Hyrum get their kicks at the singles dance admiring the girls' exposed flesh ---- on their ankles, and one naughty youth can be seen spiking the sherbet punch, not with alcohol but with caffeine-spiked Mountain Dew.
Other humor is edgier, at least by Mormon standards. Dallon and Hyrum get "high" inhaling helium from a balloon bouquet and trip out in one silly scene, and Jonathan jokes that his divorced status leads to comments from fellow Mormons that "our ancestors could handle four or five wives and I couldn't handle one."
The characters are engaging, the story is sweet and the plot is easy enough to follow, but non-Mormons will find a lot of the dialogue in the film confusing. There are reference to "CTR Rings," someone named Martin Harris, a "preference dance," Franklin Day Planners and "God's Army" references that left me in the dark. Also, I didn't recognize any of the cameos by famous people (Mormon celebrities such as Ruth Hale, Lavell Edwards and Danny Ainge).
The film is scored with numerous bubble-gum pop religious tunes and inspirational scenes toward the end that find Jonathan re-embracing his faith and rising to elder status in the church. It's an upbeat film with a positive message, and it does a good job showing that Mormons are normal people with normal problems, but it'll have a hard time finding an audience outside the Mormon faithful.
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormons are building a culture that reflects their gospel convictions. They don't drink alcohol or coffee, they refrain from cigarette use, and they generally don't spend money on Sundays. Their males flaunt mostly clean-shaven faces, most of their women don't wear mini-skirts or sleeveless tank-tops, and a good portion of them give up 18 months to two years off preaching somewhere, often in foreign tongues.
In recent years, however, it may be observed that Mormonism has become increasingly commercialized. Their gospel has been pulled from its hallowed place on the Pedestal of Inviolability and placed in assorted shapes and sizes in bookstores, cd shops, and on Web sites.
Ever seen the t-shirts that take a Nike swoop and turn it into Moroni blowing his trumpet? Or heard Jericho Road wail out their squeaky cleanness against a backdrop of LDS themes? How about the little Book of Mormon action figures (of which Nephi seems to be the favorite)? Then there's "Charly", "Handcart", "God's Army", "Brigham City", "The Other Side of Heaven", and the soon-to-be-released remake of Johnny Lingo. View Photos of LDS Singles at ldsmingle.com, or name your Utah baby at geocities.com/Heartland/3450/, or adopt a curelom at mormonzone.com.
There's Mormon fiction (e.g. The Work and the Glory), Mormon music (i.e. Julie de Azevedo), Mormon movies (ex. Singles Ward), Mormon art (see Greg Olsen), and Mormon software (re: 'LDS Temples' screensaver).
There are entire stores devoted solely to Mormon missionary products.
Latter-day Saints enjoy CTR rings, Young Women's values bracelets, Child of God lockets, Nauvoo Sun charms, necklaces, key rings, and dog tags.
You name it, the Mormons make it.
Church history buff? Try the Kirtland Temple Interactive CD-ROM.
Want to spice up a handout for Sunday school? No problem -- sample one of the almost sixty LDS clipart programs at Deseret Book.
Looking for ways to find an eternal mate? There are almost 140 Mormon romance titles available online.
But in the middle of this LDS shopper's dream, one must face the question: when is it going too far?
How about when it is shocking to discover that a member of the Church, baptized at age 8, never (don't say it!) owned (please, no!) a CTR (stop, stop!) ring (gasp!)?
Or when someone has never heard of Gerald Lund and people say, Seriously? No way!
Or when people put off regular scripture study because they're reading other "church books" (i.e. The Porter Rockwell Chronicles)?
The moment Latter-day Saints begin to equate church membership or standing or doctrine with Mormon products is the moment the gospel has become lost behind a pile of CDs, cassettes, posters, books, jewelry, t-shirts, and Nephite action figures.
For the most part, Mormon commercialization is okay. Indeed, it is part of creating a culture.
But the most important part of that culture -- namely, the pure and simple gospel of Jesus Christ -- must never lose its front and center place.
*** [3 out of 5 stars] (Audio: B, Video: B+, Features: B)
Anamorphic, outtakes, music videos, trailers, JELL-O recipes, interactive games, DVD-ROM features.
Throughout the '90s a new "niche" in independent filmmaking has manifested itself with astonishing fortitude -- religious-themed films made by churches and religious organizations to help bridge the gap between their adherents' sensibilities and those of more permissive Hollywood films. Most of these movies -- like the "Omega Code" films, "Left Behind" and the Mormon-themed "God's Army" and "Brigham City," have centered on matters of faith central to their target audiences. But the newest of the Mormon-themed films, "The Single's Ward," takes things in an refreshingly different direction.
A straight-up comedy about the peculiar and often very funny social politics of a Latter-day Saint "Single's Ward" -- a term denoting congregations specifically comprised of young, unmarried adults -- "The Single's Ward" filters its humor through the experiences of stand-up comic (wonderfully played by Will Swenson) who must navigate the pathways of a lifestyle he thought he had left behind.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- as the Mormons are formally called -- are the obvious target audience here since most of the jokes are extremely inside and specific. But those who may be curious about the sometimes insular culture will find much to enjoy as well. A host of cameos from famous Latter-day Saints are peppered throughout -- basketball greats Danny Ange, Thurl Bailey and Shawn Bradley, football great Steve Young -- are only part of the overall package with which the filmmakers exhibit a refreshing willingness to poke a little innocent fun at their own.
For an independent DVD of any kind, the quality of this transfer is exceptionally good, particularly when viewed on a television able to take advantage of the anamorphic enhancement. Animated menu screens are also first rate as are the very fun extras which include outtakes (Young and Ange are featured here, too) a pair of simple but briefly amusing DVD "games" and two music videos. There's also the film's trailer plus a teaser trailer for the filmmakers next film, "The RM" (short for "Returned Missionary"), that promises to be every bit as irreverent and funny.
Collector Rating: STRICTLY FOR FANS
[Excerpts]
[ October 28, 2002 ]
I have that song that Maren Ord sings during Singles Ward at that part when he's reminiscing and crying... that's a good song. "You take my breath away..." We watched the Audio commentary track on the DVD where the director and some of the cast talk about all the different stuff in the movie. It is HILARIOUS. A lot happened this weekend, and I don't know what to say.
[ October 23, 2002 ]
Wellll if my day couldn't get any better yesterday with finishing my papers and watching Gilmore Girls, Ben Dougsfriend came by and dropped of "Singles Ward" and we got to watch that. And Hannah, i can totally relate to your sitch. my parents weren't laughing. hahhaahhha me and doug were dying but my parents were like "what the crap?" the whole time. even the younger kids. it's sort of a "guess you had to be there" type of thing. Carol asked me what was so funny about the guy who got his mission call to Boise. ya know, that type of thing. I said, "Don't worry, my child, it will all come in due time." There were some funny outtakes on the DVD as well. Poor Daryn (Elden).. he is seriously SO funny in real life. I PROMISE!! He really didn't have any funny lines, just his behavior was amusing. Ah well. He helped write "The RM" which comes out in January in UTAH.. probably here in the summer. And then he just finished writing a book called, "Me, Myself, and EFY." which will probably be made into a movie. I've never been to EFY, so maybe it won't be as funny to me, i dunno.
Although I'm not sure why, people often ask my opinion of the "Mormon Movies," the recent crop of pictures by LDS filmmakers about the LDS culture that have followed in the wake of Richard Dutcher's success with "God's Army" and "Brigham City."
So far, I've gone on record about just two -- "God's Army," when it initially hit theaters (and turned out to be such a delightful surprise), and "Brigham City," when it was released on DVD last April.
Now it's time to discuss a third as it lands on DVD -- "The Singles Ward," the only comedy of the lot. (Which I'm sure will be followed in fairly quick succession by "The Other Side of Heaven," "Out of Step," "Handcart" and "Charly"; we'll take those on as they arrive.)
"The Singles Ward" (Halestorm, 2002, PG, $24.95). When I saw this in a theater -- despite the laughter of the twentysomethings around me -- it struck me as little more than a bigger-budget roadshow.
What little plot there is has to do with a divorced, inactive LDS standup comic who falls for a woman in his singles ward. Silly comic subplots and characters abound, and then things get mawkish when she is offended by his standup act, which includes jokes about Mormon culture. (She is so lacking a sense of humor that she would also hate this movie!)
"Singles Ward" is really just a series of skits -- some good, some mediocre, some awful -- and the performances are a mix of professional and amateurish, including the LDS celebrity guest cameos. (Just because you're having fun on the set doesn't necessarily mean it will translate to the audience.)
The film's jokes and colloquialisms are extremely inside; those unfamiliar with the culture may be lost. And, of course, most gags play off of broad stereotypes.
Having watched it again, I still find much of it puerile, but I did chuckle here and there. It really plays better on the small screen, where its flaws have less impact.
Extras: Most of these are quite clever, and many are more amusing than the film itself. Widescreen, outtakes, music videos, Jell-O recipes, interactive games, trailers, DVD-ROM applications.
After years of plans and visions we are debating the latest desperate mission to "save downtown Salt Lake City." We do not need another vision. We need to see reality.
The Mormon settlers built their principal city and religious center at this valley's extreme north end. It was in a time long before suburbs, regional malls, freeways, Wal-Mart and Costco. In the current era, the closure of the Hotel Utah and building four large retail malls within two miles of one another have taken a toll. Other valley communities have built their own competing malls.
The population mass has dramatically shifted to the south and west. The traffic flows downtown in the morning and dramatically away from downtown in the evening.
The downtown decline was apparent before the governments decided to build the TRAX rail line on Main Street and then to create a virtual dead end at South Temple. Main Street has been "beautified" at least three times.
Downtown Salt Lake City is now a rail transit corridor replete with long rows of vacancies, empty sidewalks and struggling merchants. The fate of our small city now seems to hang precariously on Nordstrom's business plan and The Gateway project. At the same time, there is significant office space and the performing arts are well-represented. Salt Lake City has a wonderful sports arena. There are hotels and a conference facility.
None of this is "good" or "bad." It just is. Salt Lake City is a very nice place to live. It is not even remotely similar to Denver, San Diego or Paris, France.
Through all of these changes, Salt Lake City was and is commonly identified as a religious center. The general population is deeply divided between the Saints and the Gentiles. These two groups are essentially incompatible. They just do not get along together. They do not socialize with each other and, as a result, many demographic calculations need to be divided by the number two.
The conflicting lifestyles are an intractable, fundamental, historic and economic reality. The Saints are good-hearted people who are profoundly pious, conservative and frugal members of a centrally controlled and highly organized religion. Frivolity is anathema to the Saints. Abstention is a basic Mormon religious tenet and we have goofy liquor laws. There is very little Sunday or Monday retail business. The controlling majority and its political expressions consider Salt Lake City to be the biblical City of Zion. Indeed, the majority believes the center of the city to be equivalent to sacred ground, and in significance equivalent to the Catholic Vatican or Jerusalem.
After all, "This is the place." Salt Lake City is a place of religious pilgrimage.
Shopping, dining and getting a little loose really do not mix well with our unique social conditions, religious fervor and visions. These realities are inconsistent with creating a vibrant, exciting entertainment zone bustling with trend-setting fashion stores, restaurants, dancing and nightclubs.
When you divide by two and then subtract the outlying regional malls, restaurant and theater areas, the demographic and market conditions for downtown revitalization simply do not exist. Our downtown already has more restaurants and shopping than can be prosperously supported. It would not be prudent for any business to locate on Main Street until we know the fate of The Gateway project. It is all very different from the 1960s.
Most of this mess has been created by a long succession of professional planners, mayors and city councils. Each has had their own plan and each has failed. If it were otherwise, we would not be having this debate.
So shouldn't Salt Lake City consider accelerating its development as a religious center? The Vatican is only 110 acres but one of the world's greatest spiritual and travel destinations. Temple Square can be greatly expanded. The LDS Church Administration Building could be replaced by a second beautiful, auxiliary temple complex similar to the stylized San Diego Temple.
Expansive Vatican-style gardens and a larger LDS Visitors Center make more sense than expecting people to spend money for fine dining or browsing through Victoria's Secret. Whole new blocks can be added to the LDS central complex.
A unique and impressive LDS world religious center is what people want and expect. It is what the majority desires. Anything else will ultimately be just another risky investment. We should see reality, get out of the way and let the LDS Church create its worldwide center.
Above all, let's stop fiddling around.
-----
Steven Flint Lowe is an attorney with downtown business interests and is a Buddhist.
I enjoyed the guest commentary by Buddhist Steven Flint Lowe (Nov. 3) on his vision for downtown Salt Lake (funny, his name doesn't sound Buddhist). As a Latter-day Saint, however, I take exception to his statement that "frivolity is anathema to the Saints." That is simply stereotypical nonsense.
I've done stand-up comedy and I write comedy. I'd much rather perform for a Mormon audience because they are more open, warmer and easier to win over. Secular people always portray the religious as a bunch of judgmental, up-tight prudes who hate them because they're not having fun like they are.
I suggest that Lowe get out a little more. Take in a movie, like "Singles Ward" which is about Mormons laughing at themselves. Much of the humor will zing past him because it is a very in movie, but he may come away with a little different attitude about us.
GARY DAVIS
Frazier Park, Calif
[EXCERPTS]
Like some economic pundits of Wall Street who warn of recession with the market going up, I predict a fall out and settling of the Mormon movie market in the very near future. This notion -- when it happens -- supports the one brutal truth implied in the Benson assault -- wannabe filmmakers must ultimately "pull Mormon culture out of the cheese."
I know what he means. I would have said it differently. Ultimately, wannabe Mormon film makers must rise above the novelty of "Mormon movies made for Mormons" and dependence on the easy and inevitable laughs of a Singles Ward to achieve a level of movie-making excellence that allows them the right and the power to tell their stories any way they want to -- cheesy sentiment or no.
Mormon Cinema is a newborn giraffe, still wet behind the ears. It teeters on spindly legs of inexperience, but has the potential of becoming a magnificent creature.
...I am enthusiastic about what is happening. The number of LDS filmmakers leaping into the forbidden arena excites me. Not all their offerings are equal by any means. It is unfortunate for example that Other Side of Heaven and Singles Ward are so easily lumped into the same conversation, or that the recently announced Book of Mormon Movie , Volume I -- exciting as it may be -- is front and center in the media while another much bigger and more expensive epic on the Book of Mormon is being prepared by seasoned filmmakers, Steve Devore, Peter Johnson, Scott Swofford and Reed Smoot.
...My final point is one I've made before. If you fail to support the movies by LDS film makers who struggle to make a difference and who want to create family friendly films that run counter to popular culture -- however imperfect and flawed their early attempts -- then you forever forfeit your right to complain about Hollywood and the steady decline of popular culture.
[Excerpts]
...Recent works have included an earnest film about LDS missionaries, a murder-mystery and a romantic-comedy. Five more films are expected to open here this spring.
"The Singles Ward," a guy-meets-girl romantic comedy, is essentially a series of inside jokes about Mormons, from the scrap-booking opening credits (Mormons love scrap-booking) to good-natured jabs at the church's polygamist past.
For example, at one point the romantic lead turns to the camera and complains about the reaction from fellow church members to being dumped by his wife: "Our ancestors were able to handle four or five wives and you can't handle one? What's the deal?"
Dutcher had hoped the success of his movie would draw out the faithful within the entertainment business. Instead, he says, it spawned a series of poorly made movies with an LDS stamp.
Sean Means, movie reviewer for the state's largest newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune, says films like "The Singles Ward," "Handcart" and "Charly" mark a sophomore slump for LDS cinema. They're plagued by bad scripts and boring plots, he says.
Because they aren't good enough to succeed elsewhere, Means says, they end up being marketed squarely at locals. And there's enough of an audience here to pull down a profit; the church claims 70 percent of Utah residents.
"The Singles Ward" was made for $400,000 and made almost $1.5 million, said director and producer Kurt Hale. Now there are 200,000 copies at video stores.
...Hale will release two more Mormon-themed comedies. The first -- "The R.M.," about a return missionary -- will hit Utah in January. The other -- "Church Ball," about church basketball leagues -- will be out in January 2004.
There's no shortage of material, or self-deprecating humor, Hale said. "We can make 50 movies based on how strange we are."
On the Net:
Richard Dutcher's production site: http//:www.zionfilms.com
http://www.ldsfilm.com
Kurt Hale's production site: http://www.halestormentertainment.com
Time to let you take over the column:
I am curious why you would refer to "The Singles Ward" as a "sophomore slump for LDS cinema"? While critics didn't like it in Utah, it did receive more favorable reviews outside Utah. And it was a financial success -- Mormons bought tickets to go see it, and not just in Utah either. They are also buying the video and DVD left and right. And try renting it on video, there's a waiting list in all the video rental chains.
If it was a case for Mormons just going to see movies about Mormons, regardless of quality, "Handcart" and "Out of Step" should have done much better. Not to mention "Brigham City" -- that's a perfect example of a sophomore slump for [filmmaker Richard] Dutcher, box-office-wise anyway. "The Singles Ward" was a success with audience members -- even though it was not with you.
-- Pat Blazer
Pat refers to an Associated Press story about LDS movies that ran last weekend in, among other papers, The Daily Herald in Provo. The phrase "sophomore slump" was not mine, but belonged to AP reporter C.G. Wallace, who paraphrased me: "Sean Means . . . says films like 'The Singles Ward,' 'Handcart' and 'Charly' mark a sophomore slump for LDS cinema. They're plagued by bad scripts and boring plots, he says."
My choice of phrase would be "second wave." The first wave of LDS cinema consists of two Dutcher films, "God's Army" and "Brigham City," and "The Other Side of Heaven" -- ambitious movies that tried to get their strong LDS themes to a broad audience of Mormons and non-Mormons. The "second wave" includes movies whose makers banked on drawing the LDS audience without a care for the mainstream.
Sadly, most of these "second wave" movies, like "The Singles Ward" and "Charly," were bad movies, and their box-office success doesn't make them better. It just proves the point that the novelty of an LDS-themed movie has not yet worn off.
Sara, from Layton, UT, writes:
Dear Circle of Sisters--
Wow! THANK YOU, Alison! Finally, a voice of reason out there! I agree with everything you said. I feel like I am the only one who thinks this way sometimes. We live in Utah and moved here from out of state not too long ago. I was totally shocked at the way the young women dress here. There is so much immodesty; it is very disconcerting. There seems to be a hardness to the look of the young women that is becoming more and more prevalent. My sister goes to BYU and went to another university out of state for her first year. The strange thing, she said, is that the problem with immodesty is so much worse here than at her previous college where there were virtually no members of the church. She said the way they dress to church is unbelievable. I don't get it! These are girls who are graduating from seminary, getting good grades, and in general coming from active LDS backgrounds.
I first realized that there was a serious problem when I went to see the movie, "Singles Ward" which is made by Mormons for Mormons. The girl they held up as the "ideal Mormon girl" wore terribly immodest clothing throughout the film. Low-cut, tight, cleavage showing tops-- I came home so bothered by that movie and kept thinking, "Something is wrong here." There is a need for a standard to be set so that this kind of behavior is not seen as acceptable.
Also on the subject of modesty:
Source: Deseret News, online reader comments about "The Singles Ward"
URL: http://deseretnews.com/movies/opinion/list/1,1273,270000104,00.html
Reviewed on: 3/22/2002
ANGELA - UTAH n/a
Rank: 3 stars
I thought this movie was well made, funny, with an interesting plot. My husband and I were in shock, however, by the clothing the female lead, Cami, wore throughout the film. Everything she wore was very immodest. In the movie, she is held up as the ideal mormon girl. How unfortunate that instead of setting an example for all the LDS girls who will see this film that one can be attractive and stylish but still be modest, she chose to lower herself to worldly standards. It is sad when you can't even go to a movie "made by mormons for mormons" without cringing.
Reviewed on: 8/03/2002
MADDIE - USA
Rank: 2 stars
...Who said that Cammie dressed immodestly? Is she on crack? Maybe she expects women to wear a big old raincoat over their long pioneer dresses that are worn over pants just in case the dress flies up. Anyway, Will Swenson is hot.
[Excerpts]
Richard Dutcher, LDS filmmaker, discusses the recent LDS-themed movie trend. He said the films have had a critical lack of quality in the last few years. Dutcher created, among others, God's Army and Brigham City.
Richard Dutcher, a pioneer filmmaker of Latter-day Saint cinema, told a BYU-Idaho crowd Thursday he agrees with some critics that the genre has hit a rut.
Seven LDS-themed films have made it to local screens since 2000, including two of Dutcher's movies, God's Army and Brigham City.
Recent films such as The Singles Ward, Handcart and Charly mark a sophomore slump for the films, which are based on themes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Utah film reviewers said.
"We finally get a chance to say something, and we're just reinforcing stereotypes," Dutcher told more than 800 BYU-Idaho students and faculty Thursday during a speech on the LDS film industry.
But LDS cinema is headed in the right direction, and it has made great strides in recent years, Dutcher said.
"Three years ago nobody thought we'd be where we are now," he said...
"He is the pioneer," Jack Weyland, author of the book Charly, which recently was released on film, said. "Without God's Army none of these other films would be possible."
Weyland said he understands Dutcher's point about stereotypes, but he also said there needs to be a variety of films in LDS cinema.
Special Christmas Invitation
NEW The Singles Ward Christmas CD!
If you enjoyed the music from The Singles Ward, you'll LOVE this fresh sounding Christmas album, "A Very Singles Christmas". The best selling soundtrack from the hit movie The Singles Ward now has a seasonal companion. To listen to a sample click here:
http://www.ldsliving.com/details.asp?prodid=284&cat=2077&path=
The Singles Ward: This movie has become the number one selling LDS film to date. Steve Young, Lavell Edwards, and a cast of hillarious actors show how different it is being a single Latter-day Saint. The hit comedy of the year is available on DVD & VHS - Enter Prior Customer code above and get an exclusive directors signed copy of the movie.
The Singles Ward sountrack: The number one selling music disc in LDS bookstores everywhere from the hit comedy of the year!!
Me, Myself & EFY: You know him as the guy with a Franklin Day-planner obsession in The Singles Ward. Now, comes a brand new, hilarious LDS novel. Me, Myself & EFY is an LDS romantic comedy of epic, zany proportions that tackles the completely unique LDS cultural phenomenon, Especially For Youth. This fast-paced book with just a dash of science fiction with reveals the most bizarre event in EFY history.
[END OF PRESS RELEASE]
LDSFilm.com COMMENTS:
Interestingly enough, actor Kirby Heyborne, the star of the upcoming feature film "The R.M." and one of the co-stars of "The Singles Ward," sings a track on the new "A Very Singles Christmas" CD.
You can listen to samples from all the tracks online at the URL given below. Let me point out that this is a much more mellow CD than "The Singles Ward" soundtrack. Nobody is doing anything along the lines of "When Grandpa Comes to Town"... It's actually something very appropriate for Christmas... not at all headbanger stuff. These tracks you wouldn't be surprised to hear at a fireside.
| Song Title | Group/Artist |
|---|---|
| "Joy to the World" | Majestic |
| "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful" | The Sugarland Run |
| "Silent Night" | Jamen Brooks |
| "Once Within a Lowly Stable" | Maya Shore |
| "Away in a Manger" | Hale and Cath |
| "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" | Jerrytown |
| "O Little Town of Bethlehem" | Ponchillo |
| "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" | Becky Jean Williams |
| "With Wondering Awe" | The Debra Fotheringham Band |
| "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains" | Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband |
| "The First Noel" | Sofina |
| "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" | Clay |
| "Stille Nacht" | Sunfall Festival |
| "O Holy Night" | The Rockmatics |
| "I Believe in Santa Claus" | Kirby Heyborne |
[Excerpt]
Desert Star Theater is known for its year-round melodramatic spoofs -- light and family-oriented shows to amuse while downing a pizza or digesting a hearty slab of beef from the adjoining Steakhouse. This tradition continues with "Rocky Mountain Holiday: I'm Dreaming of a Nice Christmas." It's a spoof of the classic Bing Crosby films "Holiday Inn" and "White Christmas," with plenty of localized jokes sprinkled throughout.
Written, directed and performed by Desert Star artistic director Scott Holman, "Rocky Mountain Holiday" contains several sharp asides and clever jokes that sometimes whiz over the heads of the audience. (The amateurish acting in LDS films like "The Singles Ward," ZAP Tax funding and Utah's love of guns are all targets in the show.) In other instances, the joke timing is downplayed so they hardly register at all.
Spencer Ashby gets plenty of laughs as the evil Park City developer Finius Finch, while Phillip R. Lowe cracked up everyone (including fellow cast members) as Finch's malapropism-prone son, Peter.
"Rocky Mountain Holiday's" opening number, "Musical Tonight," encourages audiences not to take the show too seriously, and the show delivers exactly what the song promises. Who cares if the ending is rushed and pat -- it's all in fun.
"Rocky Mountain Holiday: I'm Dreaming of a Nice Christmas" plays at Desert Star Theatre and Steakhouse, 4861 S. State St., Murray; Fridays, 7 and 9:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m.; Mondays through Thursdays, 6 and 8:30 p.m.; through Jan. 4; no performances Dec. 24 and 25; no 8:30 p.m. performance Dec. 31 and Jan. 1; $10 to $12; $6 children; no babies; 266-7600.
[Excerpt]
With the niche success of movies like "The Singles' Ward," it is becoming increasingly apparent that Latter-day Saints like to laugh at themselves. They like to see characters they recognize from their own wards. Even if those characters are a little exaggerated, they recognize a grain of truth, and it's that grain of truth that makes this genre sell.
[A review of Robert Smith's comedic novel BAPTISTS AT OUR BARBECUE follows this introductory paragraph.]
[Excerpt]
Slowly, one by one, they're dropping like flies," George Dayton says about his single friends. At 32 and LDS, Dayton is an anomaly in his church.
"I honestly don't know why," Dayton says about the reason he's still single. He offers as one explanation "the feast or famine" existence of his job as head of theatrical distribution for HaleStorm Entertainment, the company responsible for the movie "Singles Ward."
In his own life, Dayton attends a singles ward. That's one reason he moved to Provo from St. George, where at 31 he was told he was too old to attend the singles ward there and had to move on to a family ward. "I went and felt completely lost. I felt like I slipped through the cracks. You feel like a little bit of an oddity."
A Brigham Young University graduate, Dayton says half his friends married by the end of their senior year. "I don't think I could have gotten married at 22 or 23 or 24. "I'm ready now, but maybe that window of opportunity has passed me by."
Whenever he meets younger women, he says, they seem interested -- until they find out his age. When it comes to 32-year-old LDS men who aren't married yet, he says, "I think there's a certain sector who assumes there must be something wrong with you."
[EXCERPTS]
Movies
The best movies of 2002 were in touch with their emotions -- and those of their audience.
No false fronts, no veneers of post-modern hipness, no covering with cool, no deflections with irony. In the movies on my list of the year's 10 best, passions -- love, anger, pain, despair -- played across the screen with raw power and real energy, in genres ranging from melodrama to fantasy epic, indie romance to con-artist caper, costume drama to documentary...
The Bottom 10
Some of my fellow critics have told me that because I took off most of the summer, I am unqualified to rate the year's worst movies. How could I tally the year's turkeys without having seen "Juwanna Mann," "The Master of Disguise" or "The Adventures of Pluto Nash"? Don't worry -- there were enough awful movies to go around. Here are the worst I saw:
1. "Scooby-Doo" -- The most obnoxious computer-animated character ever (yes, even worse than Jar-Jar Binks), and the darned dog was still more interesting to watch than Freddie Prinze Jr.
2. "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights" -- The poop jokes were offensive, yes, and so was the star's rampaging ego. But the real crime was the shameless attempt to play on every holiday-movie cliche to wring tears amid the scatology.
3. "Stealing Harvard" -- Tom Green may have been horrifically offensive in "Freddy Got Fingered," but he was never as boring as this.
4. "Trapped" -- Even if the Elizabeth Smart case and subsequent kidnappings nationwide had not been fresh in our minds, this manipulative button-pusher of a thriller would still be crass and cruel.
5. "The New Guy" -- Where have you gone, John Hughes? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
6. "Formula 51" -- This year's entry in a still-thriving genre: ridiculously violent and ludicrously hip Tarantino knock-off.
7. "All About the Benjamins" -- Ice Cube thinks he can just show up on the set and cool stuff happens. In "Barbershop," it did. Here, it didn't.
8. "Jason X" -- This lame mixture of slasher and sci-fi genres almost redeems itself in the last 10 minutes. Almost.
9. "Bad Company" -- Two of the most talented people in Hollywood, the urbane Anthony Hopkins and the funny Chris Rock, completely wasted in a hail of gunfire and outdated Cold War spy-movie cliches.
10. "The Singles Ward" -- This is how far, and how quickly, the "Mormon Cinema" genre has devolved: recycled fireside one-liners, coupled with a smug "if you don't get it, you're not one of us" attitude. (Send your angry e-mails -- I'm ready.)