Red State Movie Review

Although the tagline of the movie Red State describes it as an "unlikely film from that Kevin Smith," it should perhaps say, "a likeable but disgusting film from that unpredictable Kevin Smith" for so many obvious (and not so obvious) reasons.

It's not the first time Smith has poked at religion; "Dogma," his 1999 film, humorously dramatized the very concept of a God, his angels, his followers, his religion, humanity and sinners. While Red State did the same, it takes a dark comic route and slowly ascends into a slasher film, taking another U-turn to become a thriller and ending up being funny— making it actually worth watching.

3 teenage boys straight out of South Park, Travis (played by Michael Angarano, a Mark Wahlberg in the making), Jared (Kyle Gallner, the next Tim Roth) and Billy Ray (Nicholas Braun, the next Ed Helms) have seemingly learned a lot from American Pie and arrange a one night stand with a ‘MILF' online.

Yet, the woman they lust after turns out to be Sarah Cooper (played by a horrifying Melissa Leo), daughter of preacher Abin Cooper (exceptional performance by John Goodman) who hates homosexuals, misogynists, sadists and infidels. The boys are held captive by Cooper inside the Five Points Church to be brutally murdered. What ensues next involves blood, gore, guns, murders, rapture and more—but I'm not going to spoil the entire movie.

The bloody gunshot sequences in which most of the merciless gore takes place ends so painfully humorous that you won't believe your eyes. If you are a devout Christian, these may hurt you a lot and if you're a sensible heterosexual they may hurt you even more. Homophobia has been mocked in many movies by hetero- sexual filmmakers. In Red State, Smith shows it as a victimized cultural norm, making us sympathize with the victims of recent hate crimes in the U.S. on the basis of sexuality at the hands of heterosexual extremists.

We've also seen movies condemning terrorism before, but most of them—the well known ones—centered only on one specific religion. Red State takes a shockingly different approach, just to prove one point: extremism is the terrorist's sole religion. Red State made religious extremism its antagonist and sexuality its protagonist because sexuality is the one that suffers most in this film.

Red State may make a strong and serious statement about religious extremism and infidelity, but for the sake of laughs, you'll stay through the whole thing. You'll listen to it while sitting on the edge of your seat and waiting impatiently for the surprisingly lame punch line. It will take at least five days for you to digest, understand and finally laugh at it and that laughter will brings some tears, too.

Abin Cooper said he fears God. I, myself, also fear God. But if there's anyone in this world I fear most after him, it's Kevin Smith, simply because you never know what to expect next from that weirdo.