Pass the Ammo

Don't expect much subtlety from this broad but skin-deep satire of TV evangelism, in which an amiable quartet of amateur thieves takes over a TV temple and holds the clergy hostage against a siege of state militia, local police, yellow journalists, and resident vigilantes (can you guess who gets the most sympathy?). The script is more than a little self-satisfied, taking earnest potshots at easy targets without inflicting any serious damage, and except for Tim Curry (who plays the greedy preacher with his tongue firmly in cheek), the holy rollers and gullible worshippers are all too exaggerated to be convincing (it's hard to fake so much bogus sincerity). But once the stand-off is finally underway (after a set-up stretched twenty minutes too long) the story relaxes enough to give the characters room to have fun. The film is certainly no 'Dog Day Afternoon', but it does have its moments, and no one can say it isn't lively. Too bad the real thing (Jim and Tammy Baker; the good reverend Swaggart et al) is so much funnier.