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What Would Jesus Buy?
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by:
Directed by: Rob VanAlkemade
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 16, 2007
DVD: May 27, 2008
Running Time: 90 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for mild language
Starring Bill Talen, and Savitri D
From producer Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me") and director Rob VanAlkemade comes a serious docu-comedy about the commercialization of Christmas. Bill Talen was a lost idealist who hitchhiked to New York City only to find that Times Square was becoming a mall. Spurred on by the loss of his neighborhood and inspired by the sidewalk preachers around him, Bill bought a collar to match his white caterer's jacket, bleached his hair and became the Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Since 1999, Reverend Billy has gone from being a lone preacher with a portable pulpit preaching on subways, to the leader of a congregation and a movement whose numbers are well into the thousands. Through retail interventions, corporate exorcisms, and some good old-fashioned preaching, Reverend Billy reminds us that we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. What Would Jesus Buy? is a journey into the heart of America – from exorcising the demons at the Wal-Mart headquarters to taking over the center stage at the Mall of America and then ultimately heading to the Promised Land … Disneyland. (Palisades Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Super Size Me
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The stripped-down filmmaking preserves the abruptness and surprise of the happy (and unhappy) accidents Reverend Billy finds at every stop along the way, from Manhattan to Anaheim.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
It’s a wickedly effective indictment of America’s consumer compulsion, our mindless shopping and the multinational corporations controlling it all.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Encourages viewers to think outside the big box of super stores such as Wal-Mart.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Steeped in what may be the ultimate postmodern irony: Talen's impromptu, defiant piece of performance art with political undertones has actually taken on a spiritual dimension.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
The character isn't just shtick, though. As Billy, Talen has staged many protests in Times Square and anti-shopping "interventions" at retailers, where the managers, to say nothing of the New York police, often have failed to see the humor - he's been arrested dozens of times.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
Loud, proud and cheeky, the film runs roughshod over corporate behemoths Disney, Starbucks and Wal-Mart as it preaches a sermon of simplicity and consumer awareness.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Julia Wallace
Much like Spurlock's hit "Super Size Me," this production is slick, well-paced, and tremendously entertaining.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Must-see viewing for anyone who thinks of Christmas as just a mall and its night visitors.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
The movie has a sharp point -- Americans shop too much -- but it's a problem that its bellowing hero, always accompanied by his red-robed Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, is so off-putting; a crazy guy who wouldn't sound so crazy if he just didn't act so crazy.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Fairly entertaining, repetitive exhortations of a televangelist who looks like Kurt Russell playing Elvis Presley with 12 additional teeth.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
Despite effective moments, VanAlkemade's film is too diffuse. He gives us snippets of the group's spirited performances, but their effect on audiences remains unclear.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Laura Kern
At the very least, the documentary What Would Jesus Buy? might make a viewer think twice about that next purchase at the Gap.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
You know that deflated feeling you get after you've spent a lot of time and money shopping - and have little to show for your efforts? This disappointing biography, about performance artist Reverend Billy, does an awfully good job recreating it.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
True believers make for sloppy documentarians and that What Would Jesus Buy? is stuck in neutral because of its director’s almost total lack of intellectual and psychological curiosity.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
It's neither conceptually bold nor slyly satirical when Billy dresses up as a Southern evangelical and sings made-up hymns about "the shopacalypse."
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Frank C gave it a3:
Starts off with a strong message about debt and consumerism, but quickly goes wildly off tangent. Wal-Mart and Starbucks, much maligned by neo-Liberals, are not the root of the consumption problem. Our government and the quasi-governmental Federal Reserve deserve most of the blame for their continued manipulation of credit to encourage consumption over saving. Rev Billy has no respect for private property and needs to stop harassing people engaged in voluntary transactions.
E B gave it a10:
Believe it or not, I saw Rev Billy on C-Span first. It took a minute to know what the hell was going on and I started to lose it - Changealluhah! Director Spurlock is one of the few public Americans I'm truly proud of - great interview with him by Mike Papintonio you can see on AirAmerica or GoLeftTV.
Matthew R. gave it a10:
I loved this film and pray that it gets out to a lot of audiences. Very important for our consumer culture to hear this message, especially when the messenger is so funny! Changelujah!
