What Would Jesus Buy?

Reverend Billy in "What Would Jesus Buy?" (Credit: Warrior Poets)

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir travel from L.A. to Barcelona preaching about the ills that massive companies like Disney and Starbucks have brought upon Christmas. They also request that if you are going to shop and commercialize the holiday, at least do it at your local, independently owned retailer so as not to support corporations like Wal-Mart who run sweatshops and kill small businesses.

Big question: Can director Rob VanAlkemade's documentary achieve the same popular appeal as producer Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" and make viewers regret their spending on Black Friday?

Skip it: Jesus isn't a big fan of hypocrisy either, so he’d probably question why certain shopping is acceptable and why Reverend Billy (real name: Bill Talen) makes all his activism about Christmas. Small businesses need help year-round, as do overseas sweatshop workers, but "What Would Jesus Buy?" doesn't question the choir's low-impact, performance-based methods, explore the challenges behind their suggestions for change or even reveal where the group's own finances come from.

Catch it: To hear the Reverend's shockingly awful manipulations of words (example: "Shopacalypse") to make his points. The worst: "Are you people or are you sheeple?" Double groan.

Bottom line: Holiday shopping sure can be crazy and Billy's cause has merit, but kids wanting lots of presents for Christmas is not exactly a new development. The film might make a dent in cash registers with more info about how, if at all, other countries better control their spending, and the choir might have more impact if they didn't seem like a traveling theater troupe led by some odd blend of an electrocuted Quentin Tarantino and Poison's C.C. DeVille.

Bonus: One interviewee explains, "Gotta have the Christmas spirit … with some brand new rims." The guys of "Pimp My Ride" sure do understand what the holidays are all about.

mpais@tribune.com

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