"Late One Night" is the story of ne'er-do-well and all around jerk Larry. He has problems at work and in his personal life - most of which stem from his tumultuous childhood. Larry and his friends go to their regular diner and have a confrontation with a soft-spoken young man whom Larry jokingly calls "Jesus." I must say, this is one of the better Christiano films. My wife and I were actually impressed with the quality of this one and it's good to see that as a film maker Dave Christiano is slowly but surely improving. Problems remain however, most notably the repetitive dialog. Larry's buddies tend to repeat almost everything Larry says and even Larry repeats himself several times in the movie. Let's not forget the street preacher near the beginning of the film. This character is the true embodiment of repetitiveness - echoing the same phrases over and over. Also, I noticed that in an effort to make the lines sound genuine Larry and his buddies say "man" before or after almost every line. For example: "Why are all those Christians at the factory fakes, man." It doesn't come off as genuine -it comes off as actors trying desperately to sound genuine and failing miserably.
Despite the problems with the dialog the acting has also improved. It's nowhere near Oscar caliber but it's not terrible either. It services the story and all the actors are competent. I liked the owner of the diner - probably my favorite character in the movie! If there is one thing for which I can applaud this movie it is the presentation of the Gospel. The message of salvation is clear and no one who watches this movie can go before God and tell Him that they didn't know the Good News.
While "Late One Night" is an encouraging improvement to the Christiano film library, Dave & Co. still have a lot of work to do before anyone besides church people will take their films seriously. I can't really see pulling someone off the street, especially intellectuals and sitting them in front of this movie. I'm pretty sure Dave Christiano is well on the road to really impressing me with a solid Christian movie - he's just not quite there yet.
Despite the problems with the dialog the acting has also improved. It's nowhere near Oscar caliber but it's not terrible either. It services the story and all the actors are competent. I liked the owner of the diner - probably my favorite character in the movie! If there is one thing for which I can applaud this movie it is the presentation of the Gospel. The message of salvation is clear and no one who watches this movie can go before God and tell Him that they didn't know the Good News.
While "Late One Night" is an encouraging improvement to the Christiano film library, Dave & Co. still have a lot of work to do before anyone besides church people will take their films seriously. I can't really see pulling someone off the street, especially intellectuals and sitting them in front of this movie. I'm pretty sure Dave Christiano is well on the road to really impressing me with a solid Christian movie - he's just not quite there yet.
