hyped garbage

Don't Believe the Hype

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Well-intentioned, but uneven story. The beginning is very contrived, with meet cutes between Myles and Vanessa, and it was very preachy. Vanessa's father in the story was very bland, and far too trusting to let a "thug" get close to his daughter that quickly. Even Vanessa was too trusting of Myles, a bad message to teach our children- the believer rarely wins over the non-believer in real life.As a Christian, I really wanted to love this movie. Too many Christian films try to hammer the message home so obviously, they become caricatures.The latter part of the movie gets better, there is more genuine emotional turmoil. I don't know why they used a random car accident later in the story, when it would've been better if they used a violent gunfight to put Vanessa in jeopardy. I do like the scene with Myles and Vanessa's mom towards the end. I think having the FBI agent McDaniels talk about his own faith was a little late in the story, and seemed contrived. The message of redemption is great, but events just seemed to fall into place too easily. Not a bad film, but not very good either.

Everyone but the hardest atheists should give this a go. The mechanism of conversion is interesting but the subject is hardly ever used in films. Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus dramatically changed the course of Western history. Malcolm X said before his conversion, there was nothing he wouldn't do for money, and after converting, no amount of money could tempt him to transgress. Such transitions are among the greatest spiritual upheavals. The change portrayed in this film was realistic and interesting and should be food for thought. Recommended viewing for all, also quite entertaining and well made and two hours passes quickly.

I'm In Love With A Church Girl gets an "A" for sincerity, but only maintains a "C" for the final result. Rapper Ja Rule stars as the real life Miles Montego of San Jose, California who through new found faith in God comes all the way out of his former life as a drug seller and a gang banger.Now he's into concert promotions which is legitimate unto itself, but certainly is still an atmosphere in which Ja Rule's former profession flourishes. But Ja Rule meets Adrienne Bailon who is a nice church going girl and pretty soon he's not only liking her, but her wholesomeness and purity stemming from her devout Christian upbringing.Of course law enforcement isn't quite buying Ja Rule turning over a new leaf and they've got Stephen Baldwin on surveillance checking him out throughout the film.I'm In Love With Church Girl borrows from the old master of religious spectacle Cecil B. DeMille. Not that this film has a DeMille like budget, but DeMille was a big believer in selling religion with a little sex. Somehow I could not quite buy Adrienne Bailon as a church going born again with those skirts up to her privates and showing a most ample buttocks. Maybe I'm just a Philistine, but somehow I think that's what got Ja Rule's attention.The cast gave some good performances and how much of it happened to Miles Montego in real life is a source of speculation. I know DeMille would have approved this picture.

I was able to go experience the tour for the movie in Mississippi. All of the clips had me "coo coo for cocoa puffs' so I knew that I would be going to the theater soon. I was glad to not have been disappointed. The movie was shot really well (great cameras) and many of the actors and actresses were phenomenal. Being able to attend the tour, it was cool to know the background story of what actually happened and the connection that T-Bone had with Galley (Montego) in real life years ago. God is real, God is powerful, and God can and will redeem. The very name of Jesus sends chills through my body because of what He has done and what He is doing this very day. This movie should be able to reach anyone. It wasn't made necessarily for Christians to be entertained, but for the "yet to believe" folks to come to hear about a mighty God of grace, love, and His relentless pursuit to have an intimate relationship with His children. I received from this movie that people can't change people no matter how pure our intentions nor can we give up on others despite how things may look. God didn't give up on us in which He used someone else to share Him with us. He does the work. We are only His vessels.