This isn't supposed to be too serious, nor too preachy- and it succeeded in making a fine balance that clearly strives to include non-LDS peeps, while still making a film for our culture and people. It's also the funniest film by LDS people since Napoleon Dynamite, though I'm not comparing the two in terms of quality. It does better than most LDS films by better illuminating that there are very many different kinds of LDS people going through very different stages and angles of belief, which is critical for anyone intending to understand us- we come in both spiritual and non-spiritual types, in varying degrees of righteousness; but instead of having this come across like some kind of shocking revelation, the film deftly uses it to create much of its comedy.
And that's what this is, y'all- first and foremost, it's a comedy; so uptight mormons dissing this because it has a "swear word" in it, or something, can wait review art at a more mature age- because this film was more brave in portraying people as they are, and came across as having a more truly spiritual feeling because of it. I am surprised at how many non-preachy spiritual moments and lessons they were able to get into this, without it throwing the vibe into pretense- and it's because people need to learn truth slowly, and what they need from LDS people as much as anything is our hilarious example of happiness (we, the LDS people, clearly stand out as peculiar in all the best ways throughout the film- without apologizing, or trying too hard - to where I felt like everyone really should see this just for its anachronistic wisdom) and yet, because it really is at it's heart a comedy, I was surprised at how completely surreal and stagey and hilarious some of the jokes and characters were without steering it right out of reality. Somehow it comes across as our world, but full of larger than life characters- which is exactly the balance that The Church aims to produce.
Simply put, it's a gem that deserves to be seen. It's small, but way worth seeking out. Some of the characters were so funny that you could just tell that this would have been a bigger film if it had arrived at a more pure time in history- and yet, it's rarity makes it valuable; and it is also easily worth studying in film class as an example of how to make something clean accessible.
It's funny, warm, and spiritual- probably a true 8-9 out of 10, for me; but it gets extra credit for being so valuable- and for helping keep modern, cooler LDS filmmaking alive and well.