Edit: Not even mildly. In fact, this is the most solemn I've been in five years. That is really scary. Because I'm almost never serious or solemn.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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It's a Mormon movie but it's not generally well thought-of, from what I recall. A much better Mormon movie (if you want to see one) might be "States of Grace" (I've not seen it but it sounded good and got good reviews).
Ask Zalmoxis anything you want to know about the genre. He's the expert. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Reading a synopses, it seems to be harmless. Terrible art, but harmless.
quote:Frustrated by his mother's attempts to set him up with all the "nice" girls she knows, Tartan, a 29-year old single Mormon, decides to leave Utah for the very first time. He accepts a forest services position in Longwinded, a small town (pop. 558) located somewhere deep in the Southwestern mountains. Upon arriving, Tartan is accosted by the county sheriff regarding his religious affiliation, which he soon learns is the determining factor of his social circle. Longwinded is a town made up of 262 Mormons and 262 Baptists -- both groups completely biased against the other -- and Tartan is the tiebreaker.
Tartan is determined to find a solution to end the hostility between the two groups -- especially since Charity, the beautiful visiting niece of a Longwinded resident, is less than eager to make her stay in such a religiously-prejudiced town permanent. tartan gathers the unwilling Mormons into inviting the Baptists to an "All Faiths" barbeque, hoping to create a sense of town friendship and unity.
From the suspicious disappearance of half the Mormon's double-wide trailer/church and rocks being thrown from heaven to a mysterious humming being sounded off the mountains, Baptists at our barbecue is a delightful parody on the absurdity of religious prejudice. Baptists at Our Barbecue is a story for the ages, a reminder that people matter, whether or not their beliefs match your own.
posted
Well, next thing you know, some Scientologist (or Rhamtha follower, or Raelian or wahtever) comes to town, and boy howdy is there a square-dancin' that night! Yee-haw! Next thing you know, we gets it all mixed up as the Mennonites bring by some pie & fixin's
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Um, the (Orthodox) Mennonites wouldn't be coming to square dancing. Music and dancing is evil, ya know. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I expect the movie is really corny but I'd be surprised if it was objectionable. I haven't seen it, so I really don't know what I'm talking about, but I would guess it's probably not technically that great, the acting, directing, cinematography, etc. It's probably a sweet story, though, and for those of us who are forgiving of hokey details if a movie has its heart in the right place, I bet it will bring a few good laughs and a tear to the eye. I would watch it.
quid, I knew some very committed Mennonites who had a band. I didn't realize orthodox Mennonites didn't subscribe to music and dancing. O_o
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: quid, I knew some very committed Mennonites who had a band. I didn't realize orthodox Mennonites didn't subscribe to music and dancing. O_o
The Holdemans, or Kleine Gemeinde (Little Congregation in Plaut Deutsche, or Low German - it's a Mennonite sect), believe that all musical instruments, radio, television, dancing, make-up, photographs, statues, and every other form of art are idols and therefore using any of them would be breaking a major commandment. Computer games have probably been added to the list more recently, but computers are okay.
My father grew up in a Holdeman household, and my mother's mother was Holdeman until she married my grandfather, not a Holdeman but still a Mennonite. I've been to Holdeman church many many times as a child and teenager, and it's an interesting experience.
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Okay, they were fine with makeup, photos, statues, tv, radio, dancing, art, and computer games. Obviously, though I know they were quite committed to the church, they must not have been Holdeman.
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Those of my relatives who are not Holdeman but still Mennonite are, generally speaking, fine with musical instruments, photos, etc. There are a number of sects within the Mennonite faith, but the Holdemans are, in my experience, the strictest in their definition of allowed/not allowed by a very long shot. Oh, there are so many things about the Holdemans that set them apart. Another example is how they dress - men with beards, somber clothing, women with kerchiefs over their hair, dark dour dresses, nylons or tights with either running shoes or flat black sturdy shoes. When they're out in public, you can spot them from a mile away - they're even more distinctive than Mormon missionaries.
My favorite aunt and uncle are Mennonite but from a more liberal sect. From their lifestyle, they're very much normal and until you talk to them about beliefs, you couldn't tell the difference between them and a Baptist or Catholic or atheist.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I've seen it, it's funny, corny, silly, over the top enough to not be objectionable to either party while poking fun at the foibles of each (more so at Mormons because it's made by them). As a side note, about 15 years ago I developed a friendship with a fellow teacher who was a Baptist. She struggled for a while with the fact that I was a Mormon, and some of her friends at her church told her she shouldn't even be friends with a Mormon! I could never understand that attitude. Thankfully she didn't take their advice.
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I remember the first time I saw a Mennonite who dressed distinctively. I was on a trip interviewing for jobs and saw a young woman with a transparent cap on and unusual dress, putting gas in a car at a gas station. I knew she wasn't Amish, or she wouldn't have been driving a car, so I thought maybe she was going to a costume party or something. I was startled a few weeks later when I came back to the area and realized it wasn't a costume.
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Isn't it fairly common in Baptist predominant areas for some Baptists to avoid being friends with people in other religious groups? As a Catholic in Texas I felt that vibe frequently from some of the Baptist girls.
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Years ago the town of Hazelton in southern Idaho, (Its just east of Eden) was evenly split three ways; Mormon, Lutheran, and everyone else. The community survived because the school board had 7 members, 3 Mormons, 3 Lutherans and a board President who was inactive Mormon married to a Lutheran. Unfortunatly, the President's wife died and he remarried, a Mormon girl this time. Last I checked, the town had never recovered
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Baptists are pretty bad about not being friends with people of other religions. They used to think there was something wrong with me because my friends weren't Baptist. So of course, like the loving people they are, they treated me really weirdly. Ensuring that I didn't have any Baptist friends, which to them, meant there was something wrong with me...
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Oh, yeah. I feel your pian, pH. With me, it wasn't even Baptists, but the same deal.
One friend told me (no doubt repeating something a well-meaning youth minister had told her) "God has called us to have a spotless reputation."
I told her I didn't think Christ would ask something of us that he couldn't manage himself. That did not go over well. The phrase 'fart in church' comes to mind. *wince*
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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The movie's not offensive religiously-- if anything, it errs on the side of making the Mormons look wacky, if I remember correctly.
But it is by no means a good movie.
It's got its moments, but they are few and far between. Unbelievable plot elements combine with hackneyed writing to make for an undigestable mess of a meal.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I was hoping this would be like Wrestlemania. You know, Mormons vs. Baptists in a steel cage deathmatch! No rules, no refs! Two go in, only one comes out! Only $49.95 on pay-per-view!
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Um, so are any of you familiar with the "All About Mormons" episode of South Park? I think it's one of the most favorable send-ups they have ever done of any religion. I was amused.
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Watching The Book of Mormon Movie made me laugh so hard my stomach was sore the next day. It was priceless.
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quote:Originally posted by TheHumanTarget: I was hoping this would be like Wrestlemania. You know, Mormons vs. Baptists in a steel cage deathmatch! No rules, no refs! Two go in, only one comes out! Only $49.95 on pay-per-view!
There is a point where someone throws a chair at a Baptist. This resulted in chants of "Jerry! Jerry!" at my house.
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I don't think the movie ever intended to be great cinematic offerings but it is a sweet, wholesome sometimes funny movie that I can show my kids without being worried they'll see something objectionable. Did I expect it to be "oscar worthy" Nope. Figured it would be somewhat corny but its still a sweet movie.
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quote:Isn't it fairly common in Baptist predominant areas for some Baptists to avoid being friends with people in other religious groups? As a Catholic in Texas I felt that vibe frequently from some of the Baptist girls.
It's not universal Baptist thing, it seems to be a meme that infects on the congregational level.
I've had friends from high school who joined one particular Baptist church and started turning down invitations to gatherings and parties, even wedding a baby showers of people in our circle. A friend finally cornered one guy and he admitted that their church teaches that your circle of friends should really only consist of those that you go to church with and so they only do social things with people from church.
Then again, I have many, many friends who are southern Baptist - in fact the vast majority of both my family and my friends are SB - that have no trouble at all with having friends outside the congregation. So it just depends. I find that the larger the church, the less likely they are to have friends outside the church. Maybe it's because the mega-churches are forever doing something so if you're very involved in the church then there's always a Sunday school gathering or a Mom's Day Out or some event going on at the church and your whole social life can be taken up by it.
Not sure Jesus would agree with that attitude of closing yourself off from the world and only having friends and acquantances among your fellow church members. But then, of course, I'm a heathen to most southern Baptists, I even have family members convinced I'm going to hell. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I have very few friends who aren't Mormon, and that's only because I have stopped working to be home with my kids and the only people I ever see are at Church, so those are the ones I call to do social things with. Has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with just being lazy, I guess, and not going out of my way to find new friends.
I've had Southern Baptist friends who were truly my friends, but wouldn't DO certain things with me, because they were taught at church not to do those things (for example, the ones in my town wouldn't go to Prom), or because they couldn't set foot in an LDS church. They weren't told not to be friends with others, but their activities were limited, and that did limit their friends to a certain extent.
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I remember at my high school one week there was a group of Southern Baptists all reading a book that was something like "How to treat Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Seventh Day Aventists like People." Their pastor had recommended it and handed out copies. Needless to say, I was shocked and apalled.
I think South Park's treatment of Mormons is pretty funny. I've always wondered if one of them used to be Mormon or something, the topic seems to come up a lot and they always treat Mormons as really great people.
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I know of some towns in Wyoming that come pretty close to being 50% Mormon/ 50% baptist. Buy I've never known of a Mormon branch or ward that met in a double wide. From the synopsis, that is the most unbelievable part of the story.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:Buy I've never known of a Mormon branch or ward that met in a double wide. From the synopsis, that is the most unbelievable part of the story.
The Madisonville, Texas branch I grew up in met for a LOOOOONG time in a double wide trailer. I've got pictures of me and my mom and brother singing 'All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth' at the itsy bitsy podium.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Although I know quite a bit about the Mormon movie scene, the only Mormon-related movie I've been able to bring myself to watch is "New York Doll." I highly recommend it.
And as a sidenote, the guy who plays the lead male role in "Baptists At Our Barbecue" was my first mission companion.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I watched parts of The Other Side of Heaven the other day. Eh. I stopped watching well before it was over. It seemed so very very unbelievable and poorly acted. But maybe I just didn't watch enough.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The Other Side of Heaven isn't that good in my opinion, for pretty much the reasons you listed. Richard Dutcher movies are pretty good, though. I need to drag someone to see "States of Grace" with me sometime soon.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I like silly movies. I also like to make fun of my own culture. So I might just go ahead and see this movie now.
Speaking of friendship among differing ideologies, our community did something way cool last month. It was called “Journey to Bethlehem” and we plan to do it every year from now on and maybe at Easter times too. The whole community was invited. We started at the Catholic church where we had a brief sermon or Christmas message (or whatever you want to call it) then we sang a couple of songs. Then we all walked down the road to the Episcopal church for another brief message and songs. Then on to the LDS church and then to the Methodist church. At the end of the brief service there, we had refreshments that were so good they almost persuaded me to become a Methodist.
I saw a lot of old friends and made some new friends.
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