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The R.M. Shows Improvement - 2.5 Stars
by Thomas C. Baggaley
 I enjoyed The Singles Ward. Admittedly, that may make me unique among film critics in the Salt Lake City area, and that is not to say that I do not recognize that the film had many flaws. It was not what you would call an example of exceptional filmmaking, but then again, this was producer David Hunter and director Kurt Hale's first attempt at a feature-length film, and it was a learning experience for them. It's perhaps unfortunate that their first film had to come under the scrutiny and criticism that has surrounded the LDS-themed film genre for the past couple of years. At least Richard Dutcher had been afforded the luxury of producing his first feature-length film, Girl Crazy, in relative anonymity.
But I thought that, in general, The Singles Ward was a pretty fun experience. If you didn't go in expecting the polished wit and comic timing of experienced filmmakers like Woody Allen or Blake Edwards, and if you fit nicely into the film's very limited target audience - meaning you were LDS and young enough to remember when you, yourself, were single - you could have a fun time, despite the film's shortcomings. It was this element of fun that attracted enough of an audience to make The Singles Ward only the second LDS-genre feature to actually make a profit during its theatrical run. (The other was "God's Army".)1
I was anxious to see what Hale, Hunter and company had learned between The Singles Ward and their next attempt at the LDS feature-length comedy, The R.M. Happily, The R.M. shows some nice progress.
The R.M. is not a sequel to The Singles Ward. Although the film's lead actor, Kirby Heyborne, played Dalen, an enthusiastic young man who is called on a mission during The Singles Ward, this is not the title character in The R.M. This time, Heyborne plays Jared Phelps, a young man who returns home from his LDS mission with a full set of plans and expectations. Now that his time of service has come to an end, Jared is ready to return to normal life and all of the perks that come with it. He has a beautiful girlfriend, a great job, a loving family, a chance to go to a prestigious university and his trusty old car all waiting for him. Now he can reap the many blessings of his obedient and faithful service. Or so he thinks.
It doesn't take long for Jared's plans go awry. The disappointment starts when he steps off the airplane to find that his family has mistaken the date of his return and there is no one waiting for him. The surprises don't stop there. His family has moved, there is a Tongan exchange student sleeping in his bedroom, and - of course - his girlfriend is engaged.
Heyborne's performance is very good. His screen presence is engaging, and he shows a real talent for physical humor. The supporting cast in general is much improved from the previous film. Will Swenson, who had the lead role in The Singles Ward, brings another strong performance as Jared's worldly best friend, Kori, and Britani Bateman also adds a nice, understated performance as Kelly Powers, Jared's new love interest. Although, at times, the rest of the cast is still a bit amateurish, you can tell they are putting their heart and soul into their performances and seem to be enjoying themselves.
The biggest area of improvement in The R.M. is in the handling of cameos. The Singles Ward was simply stuffed with cameos of LDS celebrities, and a number of the jokes in the film could only be understood if you recognized that celebrity. While The R.M. still has a number of cameo appearances, these cameos are woven much more carefully into the fabric of the film, and really, it didn't matter that it was Jazz owner Larry H. Miller or BYU football coach Gary Crowton delivering the line or just another actor with a speaking part. Although this is a better filmmaking practice - making the film accessible to a larger audience - I have to admit, I kind of missed that aspect from The Singles Ward. As much as The Singles Ward was trashed for its amateur use of cameos as jokes, it lent a kind of charm to the film that I think those in its intended audience actually enjoyed. As long as you knew enough about Steve Young to get the joke, the fact that it was Steve Young on the screen giving a lecture about getting married before the age of 26 actually was quite funny.
Much of the humor in the film is also more universal. There are still plenty of culture-specific references that probably won't mean anything to people who have never been to a relief society or priesthood meeting. If you are unfamiliar with Book of Mormon names and places, some of the humorous references in the film will probably seem more weird than funny. But the filmmakers will readily admit that this is a film that is just intended for members of the church. Unlike most of the other LDS-themed films that have been released, they haven't tried to make a film that would attract nonmembers and members alike. But there is also a helping of traditional universal kinds of humor added, especially the kind of physical humor that's been a part of filmmaking since the silent film days of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
Having said all of that, this is still a far from perfect film. Although it starts out strong, it has several lulls along the way and about two-thirds of the way through the film it seems to stop even trying to be funny. This is okay for a while - it's nice to have a break and let the characters develop a serious side - but I feel like the film stays too serious for too long and by the time some of the humorous elements return, it never quite recovers the momentum it started with. Part of that is because nothing funny happens to Heybourne's character for the final third of the show. There are some funny things happening around him, but mostly he is no longer a part of the comedy. It is his energy and comedic timing that carry much of the film, and when that is removed, it is sorely missed.
The ending of the film has several plot elements that are just plain unbelievable - which would be fine if they were unbelievable in a funny way, but they're not even meant to be funny. Also, a couple of the underlying themes of the film are never satisfactorily resolved. Jared seems to come to peace with himself over them, but you are left wondering how he does so because the events in the film don't seem to justify this conclusion and you wonder if maybe an important conversation or epiphany moment somehow was accidentally cut out.
Still, the storytelling aspects of the film are much improved over The Singles Ward, and this is a film that is much more accessible and enjoyable for members of the church of all ages. Best of all, you get the feeling that Hale, Hunter and company will just keep getting better, and that gives us something to look forward to. The R.M. is rated PG for some thematic elements.
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1 The Singles Ward had a reported production budget of $450,000. Its box office gross was just over $1,250,000. God's Army had a reported production budget of $300,000. It grossed nearly $2,630,000 in the theaters. These numbers do not reflect the costs of advertising and making multiple prints of the films for the various theaters. Gross box office receipts are typically split between the theater, the film's distributor and the production company, so a film's actual profit cannot be determined from the above numbers. While Brigham City did gross more than its production budget ($905,000 gross receipts compared to a $900,000 production budget) it is assumed that after the other factors mentioned above are taken into account, that film did not make a profit during its theatrical run. None of the other LDS-themed films have grossed more than their production budget, although Charly, Handcart and of course The R.M. are still in theaters. Another source of income for films is through video and DVD sales and rentals, which is not included in this discussion.
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