Don Verdean wants to be a wacky satire on religion but falls short as it is not funny nor sharp enough despite some nice understated performances from the leads.
Sam Rockwell is biblical archaeologist Don Verdean who with the aid of his Israeli contact Boaz (Jemaine Clement) has illegally excavated supposedly rare religious artefacts from dubious sources.
However Verdean is on hard times, his congregation has become smaller and it has become harder to shift his books which his assistant Carol Jensen (Amy Ryan) has noticed.
Pastor Tony Lazarus (Danny McBride) with his former hooker wife has also seen attendance at his church fall from a rival former satanist now a born again Christian pastor Denis Fontaine (Will Forte.) He contacts Verdean with a promise of funding in order to find more relics in the Holy Land.
Verdean and Boaz cut corners and finds a big pillar of salt that is supposed to be Lot's wife and then Goliath's skull which Fontaine becomes suspicious about. Then a Chinese billionaire contacts them to find the holy grail.
Rockwell gives a restrained performance, we sense he is a small time con man making a dishonest living from the gullible. It is only when Boaz gets greedy that Verdean finds himself coming up with more and more lies which become increasingly elaborate.
However the film moved along nicely, it had heart but the satire was way off base.
Sam Rockwell is biblical archaeologist Don Verdean who with the aid of his Israeli contact Boaz (Jemaine Clement) has illegally excavated supposedly rare religious artefacts from dubious sources.
However Verdean is on hard times, his congregation has become smaller and it has become harder to shift his books which his assistant Carol Jensen (Amy Ryan) has noticed.
Pastor Tony Lazarus (Danny McBride) with his former hooker wife has also seen attendance at his church fall from a rival former satanist now a born again Christian pastor Denis Fontaine (Will Forte.) He contacts Verdean with a promise of funding in order to find more relics in the Holy Land.
Verdean and Boaz cut corners and finds a big pillar of salt that is supposed to be Lot's wife and then Goliath's skull which Fontaine becomes suspicious about. Then a Chinese billionaire contacts them to find the holy grail.
Rockwell gives a restrained performance, we sense he is a small time con man making a dishonest living from the gullible. It is only when Boaz gets greedy that Verdean finds himself coming up with more and more lies which become increasingly elaborate.
However the film moved along nicely, it had heart but the satire was way off base.