Come Sunday movie review & film summary (2018)

Things look good for the Rev. But he soon finds himself rebuffing a relative who’s asked him to use his influence with a parole situation. The relative takes the rebuff very badly—he kills himself. Later, Pearson is watching television footage of starving children in Africa. His mind takes him to a place that philosophers call theodicy—the questioning of how a supposedly loving God can allow such suffering in the world. Pearson’s a bit more concerned with the afterworld, though. He can’t bear the idea of suffering people who haven’t been “saved” through his gospel going to Hell.

So he concludes—or, he insists, he is told by God—that Hell isn’t real. And he announces his findings in a sermon. So his troubles begin.

This movie is adapted from a 2005 “This American Life” episode called “Heretics,” which told Pearson’s story. This movie is distinguished by some powerful performance. Chiwetel Ejiofor is both dynamic and credibly contemplative as Pearson. Lakeith Stanfield plays Reggie, a character who’s HIV-positive, and consistently encouraged by Pearson to deny who he is: “You can be gay and not do gay,” the preacher advises, after he’s had his epiphany. Stanfield’s work provides the movie’s most resonant emotional notes. Condola Rashad is excellent as Pearson’s conflicted wife, and Martin Sheen and Danny Glover provide superb support. Segel’s Henry, who breaks off a splinter church after Pearson persists in his “heresy,” is underwritten, but the actor soldiers through the role with integrity.

The movie itself, overall, feels kind of bloodless. Scenes in which Pearson is called upon to defend his new vision kind of fizzle rather than catch fire. The collapse of his church is depicted in undifferentiated scenes that pack no punch. Pearson’s spiritual and practically adoptive father Oral Roberts rebuffs his acolyte in the quietest, politest way possible. It’s only at the end, when Pearson and Reggie have a moving confrontation, and Pearson’s epiphany is shown to have a political dimension, that the movie shows signs of digging in its heels. Up until that point, well-acted and “interesting” is all it can offer. 

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