Yesterday, Micheale emailed me to see if I wanted to see an advanced screening
of a movie with her friend Gordon. I said sure and asked what the movie
was. She didn't know, but I thought "What the hell. It will be
good to get out of the house after being sick forever."

Once we got to the theater, the Advanced Movie Screening Guy told us we'd be
seeing The Other Side of Heaven. I recognized the movie from a commercial
I saw and whispered to Micheale, "This is about missionaries." We both
looked at each other suspiciously. What I didn't tell her was that I suspected that the film was financed by
a church.

The movie started with a narrative voiceover of the lead character over the
opening titles. Then the first scene began. Its location? Brigham Young University.

EEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!! It's a Mormon movie!

The Other Side of Heaven is basically a huge schmaltz-fest and a 2 hour commercial for
the Latter Day Saints. It was also really bad. Really bad. The writing was awful. The
plot was episodic and dull. The acting was tepid.

My favorite scene was when the lead actor, the Missionary, learns the language
of the South Pacific island people by reading a verse in his bible and then
reading the translation in theirs. He does this non-stop for several days and
when he is finished voilà! he knows the entire language, including slang terms I
am sure are in neither version of the bible. Of course, none of this matters,
because after he learns the language, the islanders have all mysteriously
mastered the English language themselves and speak it for the rest of the film.

Every time Micheale and I looked at each other we started laughing.
After about 30-40 minutes, Micheale walked out. After about 10 more,
I joined her.

Outside the theater, Micheale and I compare critiques and started
formulating conspiracy theories. What is the purpose of having this
as a film? Why were we targeted for this viewing? Why isn't anyone
else as outraged as we were and leaving?

Once the movie ended, we watched the audience file out of the theater. We
listened as many gave their feedback to the Advanced Movie Screening Guy.

"It's a wonderful movie."
"A great family film."
"Beautifully done."
"Very inspirational."

Did these crackers see the same movie we did?

After everyone left, Micheale and I asked the Advanced Movie Screening Guy, "Do
you want to know what we thought?" So we told him. He wrote our comments down and
then disappeared.

Today, Micheale and I have been scouring the net for some article, any article,
that exposes this propaganda for what it is. So far we have found nothing. This
little crappy movie is apparently flying under the radar. Or maybe Micheale and
I are both just a bit hyper-sensitive to crap like this. Or, my personal favorite,
we're just smarter than all those people at the movie.

Yeah...that's it.