ChristianMusicDaily

“Holyman Undercover” is a new film from Pure Flix Entertainment, which is a Christian-owned company that produces a variety of what I'd deem “cutting edge family-friendly films.” Whereas most Christian films are as sappy as films can get, Pure Flix manages to bob and weave between the secular world and the Christian world such that the average person, saved or not, can find a faith message in the stories that are told.

Case in point-- “Holyman Undercover.” In this campy film, a naïve Amish man, played by David A.R. White, leaves the farm life and heads to Hollywood to be a missionary. While his intention is to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, he somehow manages to be cast as Satan for a TV show, and he teeters on the brink of the Hollywood “lifestyle” where God is no longer his priority. There's a love triangle involved, involving a busty character named Tiffany Towers who is prone to making cat noises and trying to seduce the Amish guy. And, in the end, our fresh off the farm-turned-Hollywood star comes to realize he has drifted too far from God and his original mission. This self-revelation comes to him while wearing a hot dog suit in the middle of the street, with cops involved. Now that's funny. There's a happy ending that involves a wedding, and this being a comedy, lots of laughs, even at the start of the credits.

You might be surprised to see certain actors pop up in “Holyman Undercover.” Fred Willard steals the show with his near-perfect, hilarious portrayal of a network executive. John Schneider, Bo Duke from “The Dukes of Hazzard,” ends up playing Satan toward the end of the film and saying some outrageous lines. And chirpy Edie McClurg, whom many of you remember from “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” and “The Hogan Family,” plays an Amish mother. Throw in Staci Keanan from “My Two Dads” as a stuck-up L.A. socialite and you've got a full trip down memory lane.

Parts of “Holyman Undercover” are cleverly written and acted, like when the Amish guy manages to take a gun away from a would-be attacker and make him cry when he asks him what his mother and Jesus would think of him pulling a gun on a lady. Other parts are a bit amateur, like the Amish life scenes-- they're supposed to be in Kansas, yet you see hills in the background (the film was shot entirely in Los Angeles), and not all the men have beards; the ones who do look very fake. Since the film probably didn't have a big budget, I'll cut them some slack.

As a comedy, and a bit of a farce, “Holyman Undercover” has enough laugh out loud moments and quotable lines in it worthy of your time. For more info about buying this movie, visit www.holymanundercover.com/movie. --Mark Weber, ChristianMusicDaily.com