First off, I think it's worth giving credit where credit is due - it's been long past time for satirists and comedians to nut up and give us a parody of overtly religious and conservative films. They're almost parodies of their own ideologies themselves, but there's a big hole in the market for the Airplane or Hot Shots of Christ based exploitation films. Jesus, Bro! tries to fill this need.It doesn't succeed, but points for trying.They say to write what you know, so of course our main character is a YouTube star famous for sitting on a couch and ranting about something. This time, it's atheism. Honestly, the early scenes of Rick are as earnest as the film gets, as even in his overblown, exaggerated rants, he's not much worse than some people who actually exist on YouTube. But his life changes when his girlfriend (who's joke is that she only talks in exposition! It's funny because... bad movies do that?) realizes his atheism is more important to him than her and breaks up with him. She then goes off to immediately have 20 kids offscreen instead of doing something equally fundamentalist Christian that could have been enjoyable for the audience to watch.Rick drinks some craft beer brewed with holy water and passes out into a vision where he meets Jesus. But not really Jesus, it's Santa Christ from Nostalgia Critic for no reason.Brad Jones, despite still holding affiliation with Channel Awesome, has largely been independent. His channel covers several review niches, he has his own group of co-conspirators with varied tastes and opinions on media, and he maintains good relations with former CA contributors like Allison Pregler and Phelous Porteous. Which is why it's so disappointing that for this film, instead of developing his own vision of Jesus and the devil, he leans on Rob Walker's Santa Christ character and Malcolm Ray's devil from Nostalgia Critic. There's really no reason for it, other than maybe it was a condition for the Walker brothers and Fard Muhammad to appear in the film. It's the sort of cynical connection to the embattled Channel Awesome brand that makes this feel less like an intelligent parody and more like an extension of an exhausted meme.The film kind of goes on and on and on from there, with Rick going from over the top atheist to over the top Christian. This is where a good parody would have delved into the sorts of imagery and media cues that films like God's Not Dead use to comment on how those creators use the media for their message. But I suppose that's my own fault for expecting subtle comedy from a movie called Jesus, Bro!It's way too long for the amount of material they had for this story, and it shows. And yet, it's still the most competent non-review piece of media to ever come out of the Channel Awesome ecosystem. I wanted to like it, and I keep wanting someone from this group to actually go and watch their own reviews and learn some lessons about how not to make a bad movie. But seeing as the next offering will be a sequel to the Cinema Snob movie, I'm not holding my breath.

I grew up a big fan of Channel Awesome and Doug Walker as the Nostalgia Critic but I now must say that Brad Jones (aka, the Cinema Snob) is actually my favorite of the Channel Awesome group. I love his deadpan delivery, quick-editing jokes, and the fact that he does no annoying skits! Although he's made other movies (none of which I've seen to be honest), Brad Jones's Jesus, Bro! is probably his most anticipated. I quickly bought it on DVD and I'm very glad I did. This film is very funny! However, there are quite a few flaws with it. For one, I think the directing lacked the punch it should've had. It's not BAD at all, but the editing for a film like this should be a lot tighter and not as loose. Many jokes lost their edge because the directing and editing left a lot of the power out of the moments. I also thought many characters acted a bit ridiculous, and I know this is a comedy but some moments just completely jump the shark, like, the fact that there is an online Atheist community with an award for "best atheist" is a bit too much to swallow. The biggest issue is that the film feels like an episode of the Nostalgia Critic most of the time. A GOOD episode, but half the time I expected the NC commercial break with the flames and the condensed theme-song to pop up at the end of every scene. Now onto the good:...basically everything else! Most of the jokes are at least a little funny and there are several gut busters all throughout the film. The premise is especially funny and most of the humor came from the character being transformed and trying to change his ways even with all the awful douches in his life. The dialog is also very Kevin Smith-ish, with lines like "Jesus couldn't even take a good flogging", and then it switches into the dark style of writing that someone like Eli Roth would do (I know Brad hates Eli Roth, but I promise I'm giving a compliment!). I honestly think Tarantino would get a huge kick out of this film because the style of dialog would really appeal to him, as would the wacky plot and characters. Actually, the more I think of it, this film seems pretty Tarantino-ish. Easily the best of the Channel Awesome films but still with a lot of flaws that hopefully can be fixed in the next round to make something amazing.

I'll keep this review relatively short and sweet, with my main point being that you will enjoy this film immensely if you're a fan of any of these talented reviewers or their sites. Chock full of hilarious PureFlix references (my favorite being the bit about the main character/director/terrifying creep from "Old Fashioned"), and delivered in the Brad Jones vein of humor found in his scripted Cinema Snob reviews, as well as his done-on-the-spot Midnight Screenings. The acting is very good considering the budget (and that the actors themselves happily acknowledge that they are not professional actors in other videos), and the direction is satisfactory. The jokes occasionally hit a wall but for the most part are hilariously on target ("Oh, to be 34 again...") One aspect of this film that jumps off the screen is that it is more than clear to the viewer that all who are involved in this feature have a palpable camaraderie and seem to be having a blast while making this passion project of theirs. Adds depth to the on screen action and lends a positive tone to the comedy as a whole. Would recommend to any fan of Channel Awesome. I rented the movie on Vimeo for $3.99 but after seeing will more than likely order a DVD copy to show to friends.

OK this was made on a budget of next to nothing and I don't know who's parents house they were shooting at but that house deserves a credit mentioning!Past that though this is an entertaining little movie full of inside jokes from Brad's Cinema Snob reviews and recurring characters on the nostalgia critic (yes I mean Santa Chris and Malcom playing the devil!). If you are reading this review are either already a fan of the Channel Awesome group... or one of the cast in which case HI BRAD! Jokes aside the acting in this movie was good and it was actually well written, it will keep you entertained, the sets are what you'd expect in this kind of movie though but they don't overwhelm the scene. I had two issues with this movie though. 1. The hard cuts.... they huuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttttttttttt! I get that this is a no budget movie but aside from one hard cut (made for the lovely Sarah!) they gave me whiplash, could have played up the comedic angle a bit or something.2. Compared to the rest of the cast David was a bit... ummmm well maybe not main role material? I really enjoyed the supporting cast. they were all fun to watch.I'll admit this was the first time I've actually watched a movie of this sort and I was ready for something REALLY bad, but I was pleasantly surprised, what it lacked in production value it more then made up for in charm and I would recommend it. 8 out of 10 from me. I was entertained from beginning to end which is more then I can say for some 100+ million movies I've seen recently