'Honk for Jesus', a megachurch mockumentary

A scene in "Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul." [AP]

When Lee-Curtis steps in chewing gum and Trinitie asks the camerawoman to edit around that, she gets no reply. "Oh, that is right," she says. "You are the fly-on-the-wall type."

The mockumentary has always been a dependable way to satirise not just a character or two but a subset of society.

After what Christopher Guest did to the world of dog shows and Rob Reiner did to rock bands, Ebo and her producer sister, Adanne Ebo, have aimed at the rich realm of megachurches, taking inspiration from a real 2010 scandal at Georgia's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

But the art of the mockumentary is a funny thing. It has to look unrehearsed and seem real while, often, being meticulously planned. Honk for Jesus, though, only gestures at a mockumentary structure, and often simply abandons the premise.

Some scenes are staged with a film crew hovering around, while others - like one of the couples in bed at night - are simply filmed like a movie, with no excuse for the camera's presence.

There is not much that seems natural or lifelike in Honk for Jesus, including the church itself. Such a large congregation would have a large staff and more devoted parishioners - the kind of cast of characters that someone like Armando Iannucci would have a lot of fun weaving throughout the film.

Conphidance, left, and Nicole Beharie in "Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul." [AP]

But Honk for Jesus has an empty, airless chamber piece quality, sticking largely to small scenes around the edges of the church that mostly trade on Lee-Curtis and Trinitie's obvious hypocrisy.

But it is not often a bad move to give actors like Hall and Brown lots of room to play, and they certainly bring passion to their performances. They are not given anywhere, especially to go, though. Lee-Curtis' closeted homosexuality is played more for laughs than for empathy.

The film's keenest sense is how it draws nearer to Hall's Trinitie, as her confidence in her husband steadily wavers. Honk for Jesus, in the end, does not aim for anything like the madcap parody of, say, HBO's riotous The Righteous Gemstones, but it may have been more successful if it took the approach of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and kept its camera glued to the first lady of the church.

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, a Focus Features release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for language and some sexual content.

Running time: 102 minutes.

Two stars out of four.