Jesus Revolution

Jesus Revolution might be the best Christian film of the 2020s so far. It's certainly the most fun. Kelsey Grammer is fantastic as Pastor Chuck Smith — uptight, suspicious of long hair and bare feet, but gradually won over by the authenticity of the hippie converts. Jonathan Roumie (The Chosen's Jesus) plays Lonnie Frisbee, the charismatic hippie preacher who became the movement's unlikely figurehead, with magnetic energy. Joel Courtney and Anna Grace Barlow provide a sweet love story that grounds the bigger historical narrative. The film captures the sheer weirdness and wonder of the Jesus Movement — thousands of young people getting baptized in the Pacific Ocean, churches that smelled like incense and unwashed denim, a revival that nobody in the establishment saw coming. The Erwin Brothers direct with a confidence and visual style that feels like a real movie rather than a church production. The soundtrack is excellent. Where the film wisely pulls back is in not addressing Frisbee's later controversies — a sequel could go there. As a celebration of a specific moment when institutional religion met countercultural passion, it's irresistible.