A not-at-all-so-thinly-veiled screed against today's prosperity gospel, materialism, sexual impropriety, hypocrisy, unrepentance, megalomania, and megachurches writ [extra] large.
On those scores, it shines a bright light on much of what is wrong in contemporary churches and is, therefore, a successful satirical takedown of the system.
More internally, though, the movie itself is undone through labored acting, zero dynamism, and jokes that fall flat.
Was it entertaining? Sufficiently so, yes.
Was it meaningful? Surprisingly.
Was it constructive or helpful, advancing a conversation forward toward some meaningful dialogues, solutions, or resolutions? Not at all.
Moreover, having grossed barely $1.75 million over the long Labor Day weekend—and destined to be swapped out of rotation by tomorrow's Barbarian and Medieval—the film will have had barely seven days in most major markets to make its case. Conversely, had it been released in February and permitted to play two weeks past Easter, who knows, maybe it could have survived within the nation's bloodstream just long enough to appear in a few social commentaries or to make the evening's entertainment news.
So there you have it, yet another proverbial tree fallen in the forest with nary a thud.
