Beauty and the Least

Not really a fan of this movie, but I did like the two main characters. They weren't the typical Hollywood cookie-cutter types, not the "rich girl" or the "bad girl" or the "pretty mean girl" or the "pretty girl-next-door" or any other type, but more like real people. That was the good part. The rest was not so good.It is FULL of crude humor, illegal drug use, references to condoms, sex, and porn throughout. Violence is upheld as a valid way to respond to enemies or bad people. The side characters are mostly stereotypical stupid sidekicks or beefy meatheads, etc. The few times they have lines that are a "message" it is out of character (deliberately). I think it is supposed to shock or surprise the audience. I am not impressed with a church that turns out cretins like some of the characters in this movie. They know enough scripture to tell stories from it to make a point, yet they don't know Jesus...they take illegal drugs and have sex and watch porn and discuss masturbation...oh, but, they aren't currently going to church, so maybe that's why...although the violent guy who beat people up (but they were bad people...) does attend church, apparently? The guy who recommended burning down someone's house attends church--or Temple?I believe the movie was meant to be something about forgiveness, redemption, not judging others...but it really is very shallow in the way it depicts any of that. Other than a few "message" lines about right and wrong, freedom, Jesus dying on the cross, etc., it's mainly a "stoner makes good" movie--though all the secondary characters remain stoners going nowhere, it seems.There is a suicide in the movie, and several of the main characters take shrooms and are on their way to smoke weed during the scene where the suicide is discovered. The effects of the shrooms are treated humorously in that scene and later on.I almost did not watch past the first ten minutes because it was awful. A bunch of stereotypical frat boy stoner dudes looking at porn, slacking off, and jacking off, basically. There is a storyline eventually, including a romance, a simplistic blackmail plot uncovered for a newpaper article, and a simplistic subplot about a suicide note.Although I liked the two main characters, it's a shame they were surrounded by such weak storylines, stereotypical characters, smut, and shallow messages.

After reading reviews, including one by the film's director, I decided to give this movie a shot. This isn't one I would watch with kids because the themes deal with drugs, death and the porn industry. I actually really liked this movie. As another reviewer mentioned, the cover picture and abbreviated title are a bit misleading since this movie is focused on a guy named Ben. The main characters are all "stoners" or have had past addictions and especially the first 30 mins spends a lot of time setting themes and character insights with talk about sex, drugs and porn. There is no actual sex or porn shown. Pics of sexy girls in lacy underwear are shown but have direct relevance to the telling of the story, as well as a scene in which both men and women are creatively "clothed" (skimpy, not naked). There is some talk about "going back to church" as a solution for problems and a retelling of New Testament scripture, but it wasn't overly annoying to me. I was annoyed by the music, which I found distracting instead of complementary to the movie (too loud? Not my taste? Still not sure). Even with that, the story is meaningful and worth watching as long as you go in kind of knowing what to expect: a sometimes funny, but real look at someone who needed to change their life and then actually does it.

I liked this movie, except for the shout out to Mormonism. It showed that in religion there is some judgment as evidenced by comments made by the 2 stars of the movie. This is not "redemption inside Mormonism" (comment by the movie's director). the redemption of the two main characters is outside of active membership. Their church membership has nothing to do with their redemption. To redeem something means to purchase. The only redemption comes through the shed blood of Jesus Christ through which he paid the price of our sins. So, yes, the movie seems to say that the answer lies in going back to church. Church can't save you no matter what name you call it. God can through Jesus Christ. Being religious doing good works doesn't save you no matter how many callings and if your temple recommend is up to date. As far as I can tell, the main characters did not put their trust in Jesus Christ, though Ben is going back to church which would make him religious only...Religion without a relationship with God basking in His presence, is just a man made set of rules and teachings: do this, don't do that. The life of our Holy God is through His word the Bible and in His son Jesus Christ who is not a spirit brother to Lucifer who is an angel a created being whereas Jesus always existed but was incarnated in the flesh and lived on this earth.

By looking at the cover, one might assume this movie is a girlie feel good flick you might see on ABC family or the Halmark channel. I'm not sure why they chose to market the movie this way. It couldn't be further from the truth. It is a quirky little indie film with dark and mature themes, and is probably catered more towards men than women. My husband enjoyed the movie more than I (although I did really like it).Beauty and the Least has something for everyone: romance, action, suspense, and comedy, although some of these are a bit more forced than others. By the photo chosen, I assumed the movie would be about Misha Barton. While I enjoyed her character, I was more drawn to Ben Banks and was much more invested in him as a person. I found the movie awkward and silly at times, but I remained invested in Ben's story throughout the movie's entirety. The ending was satisfying, although a bit predictable and cheesy. But it left me smiling. I've watched it more than once (actually, 4 times), so I'd say it's definitely worth watching.