For Christ's Sake

For Christ's Sake, an amiable, if threadbare low-budget comedy, hits two out of three subjects on the "do not engage" scale, tackling both sex and religion (politics are left unharmed) in a slight comedy of manners that takes moral relativism to new heights. It's hard to actively dislike, especially considering the chummy, "hey, kids let's put on a show" nature of its conception, but it's also not the kind of film that will foster a rabid cult following, or even raise the religious hackles of its satirical target. Only the most stone-faced puritans will go out of their way to condemn this little film. For Christ's Sake is the tale of Robert (Jed Rees), a generically wholesome priest with a tiny congregation that hits double digits on good days and an uncomplicated life with every decision pre-ordained by the good book. When his nogoodnik brother, Alan (Will Sasso), materializes with a cancer diagnosis and needs cash for radical therapy, the always trusting Robert ponies up the church's emergency fund, but after months of silence and pressure from the church's closeted gay couple to fill the pews, he journeys out to Los Angeles in search of repayment and unwittingly stumbles upon his brother's semi-secret porno shoot. Milking the inherent comedy in the conflation of priest and porn, For Christ's Sake manages to take the contrasting worlds seriously enough that it seems genuinely interested in breaking down the moral dichotomy between the two. But unfortunately, the film shoots its comedy wad early and much of the humour is realized in the set-up and simply reiterated as it moves along. The product of a number of friends who have gotten to know each other through years of TV gigs (MAD-TV in particular is a common link), For Christ's Sake works well enough in the early going, but can't stay the course for its feature-length. Included with the DVD are some production photos, which allow a bit of insight into the creative process, and a handful of trailers.