I'm in Love with a Church Girl

I'm In Love With A Church Girl gets an "A" for sincerity, but only maintains a "C" for the final result. Rapper Ja Rule stars as the real life Miles Montego of San Jose, California who through new found faith in God comes all the way out of his former life as a drug seller and a gang banger.

Now he's into concert promotions which is legitimate unto itself, but certainly is still an atmosphere in which Ja Rule's former profession flourishes. But Ja Rule meets Adrienne Bailon who is a nice church going girl and pretty soon he's not only liking her, but her wholesomeness and purity stemming from her devout Christian upbringing.

Of course law enforcement isn't quite buying Ja Rule turning over a new leaf and they've got Stephen Baldwin on surveillance checking him out throughout the film.

I'm In Love With Church Girl borrows from the old master of religious spectacle Cecil B. DeMille. Not that this film has a DeMille like budget, but DeMille was a big believer in selling religion with a little sex. Somehow I could not quite buy Adrienne Bailon as a church going born again with those skirts up to her privates and showing a most ample buttocks. Maybe I'm just a Philistine, but somehow I think that's what got Ja Rule's attention.

The cast gave some good performances and how much of it happened to Miles Montego in real life is a source of speculation. I know DeMille would have approved this picture.

I enjoyed the message that the movie gave, but I honestly thought the acting was a little amateur. The movie made me want to strengthen my my relationship with Jesus. I appreciate this movie. It came at the right time in my life. I have been struggling with committing to God. I have had some of the same questions Miles had and it made me feel human. I also saw some of the Vanessa character in me, which made me feel like I am on the right path. The movie confirmed my beliefs and made me want to do better with reading my Bible and fellow-shipping with people. It gave me patience to wait on the man God has for me. I gave up, but after watching this, I have more faith because it confirmed that God is God and God answers prayers and God has not forgot about me. IF you haven't seen this movie I suggest you do so ASAP.

I found this "movie" on Netflix and the first thing that caught my eyes was the title. I thought to myself, "Is this real?". I couldn't believe it, so it was my job to check it out, and what a surprise! It's not good. Matter of fact, it's incredibly boring. For being about drug dealing, FBI investigations, and also might I add being based on a true story. The overall execution was flat and uninspired. How can you mess it up? Well, to start it all off in the credits "GOD" is the executive producer. I wish I made this up, but it's real! Look it up for yourself! You know what? Scratch that, don't do it.

The positive parts: T-Bone and his music. I remember listening to his album "Bone-A-Fide" when I was little and it was my favorite album back then. Now my knowledge for music has grown immensely and I don't find him to be that good of a rapper, but still I find him very enjoyable. It was a surprise to see him in the movie and he was actually not that bad. I could see him portrayed as a drug dealer and it was a joy to see him. Also, Michael Madsen was okay.

The negative parts: Everything else. No seriously, everything. The cinematography was bad, the movie looked like a TV-movie, the movie is unnecessarily long, and the acting was horrendous. Ja Rule was so bad. I know that not that many rappers can act, but my God was he bad. BUT! In some scenes, he did manage to give a "so bad it's good" type of performance. The only problem is that it takes such a long time to see him give his "all" (I use that term lightly), that your already bored or you're looking at your phone from the boredom. Adrienne Bailon lost her charm from the "Cheetah Girls" movies and was instead lackluster. I was shocked seeing Michael Madsen, Martin Kove and Stephen Baldwin in this movie. They could have done something better or at least give a good performance. They could have been the stand-outs, but instead they came for the pay-checks. Even though, the movie was a big flop. I thought that this movie was going to be a "so bad it's good" type, and boy was I wrong.

In conclusion, the movie is long, boring, and the acting is horrible. However, most importantly the movie lost its potential to be a "so bad it's good" movie. T-Bone was surprisingly okay and so was Michael Madsen. These small positives those not at all overweight the negative parts about the movie. So, I would say skip it. You're not missing out anything.

Bad script well maybe wouldn't be that bad if the acting was better. I'm bored so I'm watching it

As one can maybe infer from the title, I'm in Love With a Church Girl exists in that strange little subsector of American cinema that I probably should be getting tired of, but still find myself weirdly interested in - contemporary Christian cinema. Every year, especially 2014 for some reason, we are given one or two of these low-budget films, sometimes boasting names we recognize, and other times, coming completely out of left field. The films are sometimes less films and more long-winded sermons that, by the end of their runtime, have done nothing but tirelessly preach to the choir and can be metaphorically compared to a preacher who gets so wrapped up in what they're preaching they circle back to their point several times as they race around the stage with their face bathed in sweat and their voice getting more and more raspy as time goes on.

At least with the abundance of Christian films that seem to center themselves on storyline improbabilities and contrivances, at least this one seems more focused on dealing with a grimmer reality than many other films of the genre. Similar to King's Faith - a film I thought quite highly of thanks to the use of reality and honesty rather than sugarcoated simplifications - this film doesn't hesitate to offer depictions of rough gangs, pessimistic forces, and, ultimately, tries to come to a conclusion as to why people join gangs in the first place and, more importantly, why they remain involved despite the massive amount of things that could go wrong.

The film focuses on Miles Montego (played by rapper Jeff "Ja Rule" Atkins), a wealthy and loyal drug dealer, who meets a nice Christian girl named Vanessa Leon (Adrienne Bailon) at a party. The two begin a relationship, but the immediate difference is that Vanessa is a devout believer and a loyalist to her local church and community while Miles simply strikes deals around the local church and thinks of the community, as a whole, as a haven for paying customers. Despite Miles moving away from the local drug scene, Vanessa still wishes Miles was more involved in a faithful life.

For Vanessa, he decides to adopt a life more geared towards reading the Bible rather than ignoring it. However, Miles realizes his time may be limited due to the fact that persistent DEA agents are watching him like hawks, specifically Agent Jason McDaniels (Stephen Baldwin), who is just waiting for Miles' next false move.

Admittedly, despite acknowledging certain realities in the world that are unable to avoid (there is no such thing as the purebread, normal, American family and issues like drug addiction and social irresponsibility are hard to ignore in modern American films. However, director Steve Race and writer Galley Molina still make the misstep almost all contemporary Christian films make, which is their inability to portray the non-believing community as people who are moral and functioning well despite a lack of outspoken beliefs. Consider Miles, who's life is magically turned around after he meets Vanessa, a good Christian girl and decides to assume a life of faith. I anxiously await a Christian film that shows us that even if someone is an Atheist that doesn't immediately make them a bad person, incapable of making wise, moral decisions.

The film does get other additional fields down, however, despite some glaring miscalculations still present. Atkins and Bailon are both pretty good actors, and their ability to spark watchable chemistry that never treads the line of boredom is actually something that keeps the film interesting overall. On top of that, even the film's runtime - which is two minutes shy of two hours - doesn't feel that long in retrospect, as it shows a gradual change in Miles, even if the change is a questionable one. I'm in Love With a Church Girl qualifies as, something I call, "a major-minor movie," or a film that is gravely underestimated and receives a barrage of negative reviews but just so happens to have several good qualities, even if it isn't perfect. In the realm of sermons disguised as films, this is one of the better ones you could watch.

Starring: Jeff "Ja Rule" Atkins, Adrienne Bailon, and Stephen Baldwin. Directed by: Steve Race.