This travesty of a movie movie is about a Christian named Josh Wheaton who attends a philosophy class at his college/university. As we all know, Christians are a significant minority in the United States (sarcasm), so Josh is the only implied Christian out of all 80 students in the class. The professor is a ridiculously exaggerated atheist and forces all of his students to write on a piece of paper "God is Dead" with a signature beneath it; because, you know, that's totally allowed in schools and wouldn't result in immediate punishment.
Of course, Josh, being the only devout Christian (as far as we're aware) out of all 80 students in the classroom and every single class the professor has ever taught before, is the only one to say he won't do it. The professor then says he will be forced to debate and prove God is real and that he's "not dead." Of course, the movie seems to not understand the word debate as Josh is the only one to actually argue anything, while the professor doesn't do more than one or two snarky rebuttals; so really, it's more like "I'll give you the chance to argue everything while I do nothing to deliver an argument against it."
Meanwhile, we follow several other stories; most significantly, that of a Muslim girl who is violently abused by her father when she wants to convert to being a Christian, which sends a horrible message and stereotype about Muslims in addition to atheists. We also follow a vegan atheist (trying to aim for the most liberal characters possible?) who finds out she has cancer and ends up following Christ in the end, surprisingly (not). Intertwined with this is her laughably mean-spirited and rude atheist lawyer boyfriend, who, when finding out about her cancer, says in hilariously evil fashion "Couldn't this wait until tomorrow?" which drew a plethora of shocked gasps throughout the crowd as well. This character in particular was exaggerated to such a point that it made me sick.
The funniest thing about those other stories is that they serve literally no purpose whatsoever other than to show that everyone who isn't a Christian is an incredibly angry, mean, or otherwise confused person. They contribute nothing to the plot at all besides filler for the spaces in between the "main event" that is Josh arguing in favor of God.
Speaking of useless to the plot, there is also a few parts of the movie the movie that are just random where a black man who sounds like he's a Caribbean native and the Reverend at Josh's church stand around a parking lot for two days and deliver some unfunny commentary about how loving God is and how every rental car they get doesn't drive. I couldn't really understand anything this did to help carry the story along besides, again, acting as filler for breaks in-between the actual plot line.
In the end Josh begins yelling at his professor random lines that completely bypass everything he said in his arguments before (the most random one was "science supports his existence, you know the truth!" despite nothing before that point saying anything like that) and it turns out that the only reason the professor is atheist is because he lost his mom when he was a kid, implying the only reason atheists don't believe is because they lost something in their lives.
Of course, that part doesn't make any sense because the atheist lawyer actually talks to his dementia-stricken mother soon after this scene bringing up how he's so rich and successful despite the fact that he's an atheist and she's a poor old women with a mental deficiency despite the fact that she is a devout Christian. So basically, we have one side saying atheists are atheists because they are just angry or sad to appease Christians that they don't actually believe for realistic reasons, and then we have the atheist lawyer go completely against this point just to remind everyone that atheists are horrible people.
So, after he was yelled at by Josh, Professor Radison reads a letter from his mother talking about how much she loved him and how she wanted him to be a good follower of God. After this Radison rushes to a concert where his Christian girlfriend is to get her back. All of this makes us assume he reconsidered his faith and has become a Christian again. Or not, because on the way he is hit by a car.
The Reverend sees him get hit and, without ever knowing or meeting this character, instead of screaming for help, getting paramedics, calling 911, anything, they begin talking to him about his faith in Jesus. Yes, folks, I'm serious. The Reverend says it's a miracle the professor wasn't killed instantly! Of course, the professor dies anyway so really he ended up dying painfully and slowly, while also being forced to admit out loud to having faith in Jesus before his death.
This almost made me leave the theatre in disgust. What makes the situation even worse is that no one cared! The Reverend and his friend were joking about how he's in heaven now anyway! Not to mention half the theatre had laughed at him being hit by a car. It was sickening and disturbing that someone's death in the movie was simply shrugged at because he was an atheist and had repented in the end so it didn't matter anyway.
In the end, if I were to ignore all of the awful stereotypes, disgusting pieces of Christian propaganda, and in general just insulting content, the movie would still be a 5/10 at best. The acting was weak, half of the film had zero to do with the main plot, and the main plot itself was hardly even compelling and completely unrealistic anyway. Avoid at all costs.
Of course, Josh, being the only devout Christian (as far as we're aware) out of all 80 students in the classroom and every single class the professor has ever taught before, is the only one to say he won't do it. The professor then says he will be forced to debate and prove God is real and that he's "not dead." Of course, the movie seems to not understand the word debate as Josh is the only one to actually argue anything, while the professor doesn't do more than one or two snarky rebuttals; so really, it's more like "I'll give you the chance to argue everything while I do nothing to deliver an argument against it."
Meanwhile, we follow several other stories; most significantly, that of a Muslim girl who is violently abused by her father when she wants to convert to being a Christian, which sends a horrible message and stereotype about Muslims in addition to atheists. We also follow a vegan atheist (trying to aim for the most liberal characters possible?) who finds out she has cancer and ends up following Christ in the end, surprisingly (not). Intertwined with this is her laughably mean-spirited and rude atheist lawyer boyfriend, who, when finding out about her cancer, says in hilariously evil fashion "Couldn't this wait until tomorrow?" which drew a plethora of shocked gasps throughout the crowd as well. This character in particular was exaggerated to such a point that it made me sick.
The funniest thing about those other stories is that they serve literally no purpose whatsoever other than to show that everyone who isn't a Christian is an incredibly angry, mean, or otherwise confused person. They contribute nothing to the plot at all besides filler for the spaces in between the "main event" that is Josh arguing in favor of God.
Speaking of useless to the plot, there is also a few parts of the movie the movie that are just random where a black man who sounds like he's a Caribbean native and the Reverend at Josh's church stand around a parking lot for two days and deliver some unfunny commentary about how loving God is and how every rental car they get doesn't drive. I couldn't really understand anything this did to help carry the story along besides, again, acting as filler for breaks in-between the actual plot line.
In the end Josh begins yelling at his professor random lines that completely bypass everything he said in his arguments before (the most random one was "science supports his existence, you know the truth!" despite nothing before that point saying anything like that) and it turns out that the only reason the professor is atheist is because he lost his mom when he was a kid, implying the only reason atheists don't believe is because they lost something in their lives.
Of course, that part doesn't make any sense because the atheist lawyer actually talks to his dementia-stricken mother soon after this scene bringing up how he's so rich and successful despite the fact that he's an atheist and she's a poor old women with a mental deficiency despite the fact that she is a devout Christian. So basically, we have one side saying atheists are atheists because they are just angry or sad to appease Christians that they don't actually believe for realistic reasons, and then we have the atheist lawyer go completely against this point just to remind everyone that atheists are horrible people.
So, after he was yelled at by Josh, Professor Radison reads a letter from his mother talking about how much she loved him and how she wanted him to be a good follower of God. After this Radison rushes to a concert where his Christian girlfriend is to get her back. All of this makes us assume he reconsidered his faith and has become a Christian again. Or not, because on the way he is hit by a car.
The Reverend sees him get hit and, without ever knowing or meeting this character, instead of screaming for help, getting paramedics, calling 911, anything, they begin talking to him about his faith in Jesus. Yes, folks, I'm serious. The Reverend says it's a miracle the professor wasn't killed instantly! Of course, the professor dies anyway so really he ended up dying painfully and slowly, while also being forced to admit out loud to having faith in Jesus before his death.
This almost made me leave the theatre in disgust. What makes the situation even worse is that no one cared! The Reverend and his friend were joking about how he's in heaven now anyway! Not to mention half the theatre had laughed at him being hit by a car. It was sickening and disturbing that someone's death in the movie was simply shrugged at because he was an atheist and had repented in the end so it didn't matter anyway.
In the end, if I were to ignore all of the awful stereotypes, disgusting pieces of Christian propaganda, and in general just insulting content, the movie would still be a 5/10 at best. The acting was weak, half of the film had zero to do with the main plot, and the main plot itself was hardly even compelling and completely unrealistic anyway. Avoid at all costs.
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