Believe Me walks a fine line. It's a Christian movie that's quite secular. It's a comedy but also a drama. But its greatest feat is that it's a movie about four guys doing something pretty reprehensible but still manages to keep them likable.
Sam (Alex Russell), Pierce (Miles Fisher), Baker (Max Adler) and Tyler (Sinqua Walls), all broke college seniors, go in on a terrible scheme: Start a fake charity and swindle all the donations they can out of gullible church groups.
Like any fiendish plot, one small lie begets more, bigger lies, and soon the foursome find themselves on a nationwide tour, honing their snake-oil sales pitches to hundreds of people lapping it all up. Yet leave it to writers Michael Allen and Will Bakke to find the humanity in guys doing something so inhumane.
All four actors find the grace notes in what could have been stock characters. Alex Russell (Chronicle) ably carries the lead role of Sam, amping up his non-religious character's considerable charm and tailoring it to a Christian audience. He's a non-believer getting audiences to buy into his act of belief. It's a role within a role, and he handles it with aplomb.
Believe Me is also one of the funniest films of the year. Zachary Knighton"”of the dearly departed Happy Endings"”plays Gabriel the band leader. His idea of a deep song is simply "Jesus" repeated 100 times while he strums his guitar. As Sam's romantic rival for the affections of Callie (Johanna Braddy), he gets to show off his considerable comic talents. Nick Offerman also shows up in one demented scene as Sam's hard-drinking school counselor. Any scene with these two is golden, but the rest of the cast all have their own comedy chops.
But the best part about Believe Me is that it never, ever gets preachy, even when characters are literally giving sermons. For too many years, films made by Christians have been truly amateur productions that are simply regurgitating platitudes to an audience that doesn't see many movies anyway. Instead, this is a well made film with a good story and a likable cast. And that's something people, regardless of their faith, can believe in.
