Where to Watch: Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul opens this Friday in select theaters, including Alamo Drafthouse Cinema DTLA, AMC Americana, and more.

One of the more light-hearted films to shine at this year’s Sundance Film Festival comes from writer-director Adamma Ebo and her producing partner and twin, Adanne. The sisters’ feature debut, Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul, is a flashy satire that pokes fun at the extravagant facade of organized religion and celebrity within a Southern Baptist megachurch.

Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) is an outgoing man who leads a congregation of thousands at his megachurch, “Wander To Greater Paths.” Or, used to lead, anyway. As the film opens, it’s revealed that his not-so-angelic past has come back to haunt him.

In order to regain the trust of his community, Pastor Childs has enlisted the help of a documentary crew to chronicle his redemption journey; one that he calls his “ultimate comeback.”

Not thrilled with the situation she finds herself in is his wife–the first lady of the church–Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall). Her willingness to participate in the documentary is comically dense at first, stating to the camera crew, “I have been blessed with some beautiful Prada!,” completely unaware of how unnecessarily flamboyant a statement that is.

Trinitie and Pastor Childs work together to put on a united front for the cameras with the forced smiles of pageant contestants. They’re committed to making their redemption story as emotionally seductive as possible, but their faith in the documentary–as well as their own marriage–gets put to the test many times along the way.

Adamma and Adanne use humor to portray the ugly truth that not all who preach from the pulpit are free from sin. The creative decision to shoot partially in faux-documentary style contributes to its overarching comedic tone. Watching Sterling K. Brown ham it up to the cameras in one moment and then drop the facade in the narrative storyline draws a chuckle every time. His character is the epitome of how Michael Scott from The Office would look running a Southern Baptist megachurch.

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul is a sharp comedy that soars on the backs of Brown and this year’s Sundance darling, Regina Hall. Their acting talents are on full display here, unobstructed by the fluff that films with bigger production budgets can easily distract from. The strength of the humble yet ambitious script was inspired by Ebo’s own experience growing up in megachurch culture in Atlanta, Georgia. With this personal insight, the film captures a complex issue at the heart of organized religion but tells it in a way that makes it accessible and enjoyable for everyone who’s interested in attending.

This review originally ran during the 2022 Sundance Film Festival