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MOVIES / ON DVD / WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY?
What Would Jesus Buy?

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What Would Jesus Buy? (2007)

65%
67%
80%
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65 %
Reviews Counted: 46 Fresh: 30  Rotten:16 Average Rating: 6.3/10
 
Consensus: Manages to be both funny and informative. WWJB is an eye opening doc about consumerism that manages to be both funny and informative. more
 
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Synopsis:
From producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and director Rob VanAlkemade, “What Would Jesus Buy?” examines the commercialization of Christmas in America while following Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the... [More]
From producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and director Rob VanAlkemade, “What Would Jesus Buy?” examines the commercialization of Christmas in America while following Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse (the end of humankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt.) The film also delves into issues such as the role sweatshops play in America’s mass consumerism and Big-Box Culture. From the humble beginnings of preaching at his portable pulpit on New York City subways, to having a congregation of thousands – Bill Talen (aka Rev. Billy) has become the leader of not just a church, but a national movement. Rev. Billy’s epic journey takes us to chilling exorcisms at Wal-Mart headquarters, to retail interventions at the Mall of America, and all the way to the Promised Land on Christmas Day. The Stop Shopping mission reminds us that even though we may be “hypnotized and consumerized,” we still have a chance to save ourselves this Christmas. --© Official Site [Less]

Genre: Comedies

Director: Rob VanAlkemade
Producer: Morgan Spurlock, Stacey Offman, Peter Hutchison
Composer: William Moses

DVD Info

Release:

Aug 5, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Additional Footage - A Hilarious 8 Minute Public Access Show Featuring The Reverend Billy, the Choir and Morgan Spurlock
  • Deleted Scenes

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Printable Lyrics to the Choirs Unique Christmas Carols

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

The film gets a little heavy handed, but it's an important message.

Full Review | Comment
11/15/07 03:29 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

The shopaholic wages of sin are...the Shopocalypse!

Full Review | Comment
04/12/08 05:23 PM
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze
Ratings Image

Reverend Billy is a charismatic presence, even if his shtick is too silly and the documentary too unfocused to motivate any serious change in the nation’s holiday spending habits.

Full Review | Comment
04/03/08 03:15 AM
Mark Keizer
Boxoffice Magazine
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Seeing WWJB? in a theater is not necessary, although seeing him and the choir hijacking a mall in person would be better than Beowulf in IMAX.

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 05:45 PM
Matt Kelemen
Las Vegas CityLife
Ratings Image

These bits of information could have been shocking in about 1940, 1980 and 1990. But by now, Americans who don't know couldn't care less.

Full Review | Comment
01/11/08 12:39 PM
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer
Ratings Image

The good reverend and his crew do their best to get busted at assorted corporate shrines (Disneyland, the Mall of America), but their media-driven antics serve only to underline Spurlock's add-water-and-stir approach to political documentary.

Full Review | Comment
01/03/08 11:39 AM
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Ratings Image

Having illuminated the many dimensions in that vast universe between the flat affect of creative depression and the modish affectation of emo posing, Corbijn manages Control with elegant, understated veneration.

Full Review | Comment
12/21/07 02:56 PM
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image

While the movie may be a good vehicle for Rev. Billy's points, it's too tied to his point of view.

Full Review | Comment
12/21/07 02:28 AM
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat
Ratings Image

Genuine and meaningful provocateurs like Talen are vital, and his message is a glad one to anymore who abhors the WalMart-ification of America.

Full Review | Comment
12/17/07 07:52 PM
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher
Ratings Image

And as far as sermons go, it’s a good one. You just wish the director had found someone else to deliver it.

Full Review | Comment
12/14/07 02:54 PM
David Frese
Kansas City Star
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An amiable but also angry documentary.

Full Review | Comment
12/13/07 06:04 PM
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune
Ratings Image

Obvious or not, heeding Reverend Billy's anti-Shopacolypse gospel could make your holidays a little simpler, sweeter, and saner.

Full Review | Comment
12/13/07 05:36 PM
Paul Kosidowski
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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It's not much of a film, but it's a swell opinion column.

Full Review | Comment
12/08/07 01:07 PM
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
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I really like the message the movie has to say... I just wish the whole package were good enough to recommend as a gift to give yourself instead of another hour and a half at the mall.

Full Review | Comment
12/07/07 04:14 PM
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
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While you can appreciate what the choir and the film are trying to say, too often they get bogged down in trying to spread that message. They also take themselves a little too seriously at times.

Full Review | Comment
12/07/07 12:37 PM
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
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My nomination for a new Christmas perennial: What Would Jesus Buy?

Full Review | Comment
12/07/07 12:13 PM
Michael Sragow
Baltimore Sun
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Watch it, then cut back on your credit-card purchases and say Hallelujah! to Reverend Billy.

Full Review | Comment
12/07/07 07:25 AM
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
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What Would Jesus Buy? is must-see viewing for anyone who thinks of Christmas as just a mall and its night visitors.

Full Review | Comment
12/06/07 02:08 PM
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
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WWJB? encourages viewers to think outside the big box of super stores such as Wal-Mart.

Full Review | Comment
12/06/07 11:44 AM
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
Ratings Image

If you're going to live by the word of the Church of Stop Shopping, a smart first step would be to avoid buying tickets to this film.

Full Review | Comment
12/06/07 08:11 AM
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Related Forums

REEL_REVIEWER
(2007/Docu)-WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? - Got me, but this 1's selling tickets religiously?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/13/07


REEL_REVIEWER
(2007/Docu)-WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? - Got me, but this 1's selling tickets religiously?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/13/07


REEL_REVIEWER
(2007/Docu)-WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? - Got me, but this 1's selling tickets religiously?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/13/07


REEL_REVIEWER
(2007/Docu)-WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? - Got me, but this 1's selling tickets religiously?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/13/07


NY Times review
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