Danny (Gavin Michaels) is your average youth from small town Washington. Mom left when he was young and was left in the care of his sociopathic father. Lost in his ways, he was sucked into a cult by a local pastor and begins his journey into preaching the will of god to anyone who will listen. Unfortunately, the only person who he wants to listen is his crush Megan (Brett Hargrave), but she’s not interested in the whole clean cut look Danny is rockin’.
While getting ready to perform at a youth group show, Danny is caught by Megan working out his ‘tough-guy’ character and falls madly in love, but doesn’t realise it’s Danny. Now, in order to get closer to the one he’s in love with, he must pretend to be someone else or risk looking even more like a crazy stalker than he normally is.
It took me a while to decide whether or not this was a broad comedy or a serious faith based drama as it tows the line between the two. Lazy production values where every shot looks like it’s copied from a Mexican soap opera and student film level set decoration, mixed with somewhat decent acting makes it hard to tell the difference. Writer/director Matthew Wilson, who is no stranger to the low budget world, gives a deeply cliched tale of a kid brainwashed by religion who always finds a way to justify their selfish actions as good natured.
An adorable satire of the old trope that girls only go for the bad boy, but only if he has a strong, sensitive side. Adorable performances by the two leads who did their best with a mediocre script that feels like a first draft from a middle school student who overheard his babysitter on the phone and made up what they did when they went home. A charming, ultra-low budget indie that tries to show that you can still be a “good christian” even when you use 80’s style deception tactics in order to win the girl.
Reviewed online (screener provided by production), July 27, 2021. Rating: TBC. Running time: 84 min.
PRODUCTION: A Matthew Wilson Productions production. Producer: Matthew Wilson.
CREW: Director/writer: Matthew Wilson.
CAST: Sean Abplanalp, Vinnie Duyck, Brett Hargrave, Paul Ryan Hobson, Kimberly Ziler.