Respond to these rapid questions in our Do You Believe quiz and we will tell you which Do You Believe character you are. Play it now.
“God’s Not Dead,” a low-budget Christian-themed drama about the campus-based battle of wills that develops between a hard-hearted philosophy professor who required his students to literally sign a document avowing that God is dead and the earnestly devout student who, unsurprisingly, takes a somewhat different view and refuses to sign, was one of the more unexpected cinematic success stories of last year, at least in terms of box-office perspective. “God’s Not Dead The movie was generally panned by critics because it was so bad—a frequently ridiculous stew of straw man arguments, stacked decks, an overwhelming persecution complex, and an oddly peripheral subplot involving a liberal blogger who wanted to really do a number on those Duck Dynasty guys. On the other hand, it evidently struck a chord with its core audience, which consisted of evangelicals and fans of Kevin Sorbo, and went on to make over $62 million worldwide on an investment of about $2 million. The producers and writers of that film have now returned with “Do You Believe?,” a film that starts off on a reasonably restrained note but which quickly grows so ridiculously ham-fisted that it almost makes its predecessor seem reasonable and open-minded by comparison. This is because “Do You Believe?” begins on a reasonably restrained note but quickly grows so ridiculously ham-fisted that it makes the proverbial iron strike while it is hot.
The film is one of those multiple-narrative tales featuring a number of different subplots that eventually wind up coming together in theoretically unexpected ways. This is the kind of format that was largely developed by Robert Altman in such classics as “Nashville” and “Short Cuts,” honed further by Altman disciple Paul Thomas Anderson in his equally brilliant “Magnolia,” and debased beyond belief by the atrocity that was “Crash.” The film is set in Detroit and follows Our cast of characters includes a minister (Ted McGinley) who is moved to action by the words of an anonymous street preacher (Delroy Lindo) carrying a massive cross; a pregnant teen runaway (Madison Pettis) that he and his barren wife (Tracy Melchior) take in; a church janitor (Brian Bosworth) who takes in a homeless mother (Mira Sorvino) and child (
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this Do You Believe quiz.
Do You Believe Quiz
The opening scenes aren’t terrible, and they do a good job of introducing all of these characters as well as their various motivations. Let me rephrase that: they aren’t particularly good, but compared to the insanity of “God’s Not Dead,” there is nothing particularly objectionable about them. Other than giving the other members of the thug’s gang (all African-American, by the way) such names as Kriminal and 40 Ounce, and the admittedly strange sight of Mira Sorvino and Brian Bosworth acting opposite each other, there is nothing particularly objectionable about them. After achieving that goal, the screenwriters Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon apparently must have been concerned about alienating their core audience because this is the point in the story where the absurdist plot developments begin to take place. Because he refuses to acknowledge that he did anything wrong, his union does not support him, and his wife is on the verge of leaving him, the EMT who proselytizes to a dying accident victim instead of doing his actual job winds up being sued for everything he has by the secular humanist widow and her money-loving, religion-hating lawyer (Andrea Logan White). This scenario is the most horrific of the bunch. The lawyer, by the way, is married to a cynical doctor played by Sean Astin who does not believe in miracles and, in one particularly astonishing scene, becomes irrationally upset at the sight of a couple saying grace before eating and then goes on to lamely misquote Alec Baldwin’s major speech from the movie “Malice.”
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Do You Believe quiz.
About the quiz
Do You Believe? demonstrates that while it may not be as convulsively awful as its predecessor, it is certainly a more schizophrenic moviegoing experience as it veers between the relatively grounded and the punishingly preachy. This is due to the fact that “Do You Believe?” demonstrates that it alternates between the relatively grounded and the punishingly preachy. There are a few scenes, such as the ones that involve the relationship that unexpectedly develops between the soldier and the would-be suicide, that are dealt with in a reasonably touching manner by director Jonathan M. Gunn (perhaps not coincidentally, this plot thread is the least overtly religious-minded of the bunch). At other times, however, it seems to be going out of its way to throw in things to fire up the base regardless of how they may work from a dramatic standpoint. For example, characters (especially the EMT’s wife) find that their behavior randomly switches from scene to scene without any rhyme or reason, and the runaway tells the story of how she left home because her evil stepmother tried to trick her into having an abortion. By once again relying on a traffic accident to help tie things up in the end, Konzelman and Solomon seem to be suggesting that if there is a God, He or She is apparently a fan of the other, better “Crash.” The finale, in which all of the storylines finally converge (and how), is exceptionally ridiculous. In addition, the way in which all of the storylines finally converge is ludicrous.
Also, you must try to play this Do You Believe quiz.
Do You Believe? is about as subtle as a sledgehammer being used to hit someone in the toes, and it is only marginally more entertaining than that. However, it will undoubtedly be well received by viewers who are already inclined to enjoy it, because it has been crafted to reaffirm the viewers’ already strongly held beliefs, rather than doing anything that might cause them to think about or challenge those beliefs in any meaningful way. This is because it has been designed to play well with viewers who are already predisposed Those who are not as heavily invested in its core message will probably find it hilarious (though not nearly as much as “God’s Not Dead,” a film that is so risible that it is being screened next month at the 2015 American Atheists National Convention, complete with riffing by two of the guys from the late, great “Mystery Science Theatre 3000”), and they will similarly not find any reason to question their own personal value systems. This is because “God’s Not Dead” It is unfortunate that this is the case because I would much rather spend my time and money watching a film that takes a different perspective and does so in an engaging and thought-provoking way rather than one that merely repeats what I already believe in. On the bright side, if “Do You Believe?” is successful at the box office — which it most likely will be — perhaps it will bring Brian Bosworth back into the spotlight, which would finally bring “Stone Cold 2” one step closer to becoming a reality. For the sake of that, I would even be willing to get down on one knee.
For more personality quizzes check this: Do You Believe Quiz.
