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Jesus Revolution

Before there were mega-churches the size of sports arenas preaching prosperity and weight loss, before televangelists and a billion-dollar “He gets us” ad campaign, back in the era of hippies and Woodstock and peace signs, there were people known as “Jesus freaks.” The generation that rebelled against the military-industrial complex, commercialism, their parents, and pretty much everything but was not always clear about what they wanted, included a sub-group who became passionate Christians. They weren’t in the mold of people dressed up for church on Sunday. They lived simply and communally. And they were inspired by leaders who were charismatic in both the secular and religious senses of the word. 

They were the subject of a June 21, 1971  cover story in TIME Magazine  titled “The Jesus Revolution.” “There is an uncommon morning freshness to this movement, a buoyant atmosphere of hope and love along with the usual rebel zeal,” the story gushed. “Their love seems more sincere than a slogan, deeper than the fast-fading sentiments of the flower children; what startles the outsider is the extraordinary sense of joy that they are able to communicate.” 

That is the story and the message of a new film, also called “Jesus Revolution,” based on a book by one of the leaders of the “Jesus freaks,” Greg Laurie . This movie is not about certain details, like one of its real-life characters’ homosexuality and history of substance abuse and instability. Nor does this film explore hard questions about how the cleansing of baptism does not necessarily lead to a perpetually “buoyant atmosphere of hope and love.” Instead, it’s a gently told story preaching to the converts, assuming that evangelical Christianity is unassailably the answer without considering this particular form of worship may not be the answer for all. 

Kelsey Grammer plays Chuck Smith, a minister in California who presides over a traditional church named Calvary Chapel. Smith’s daughter persuades him to talk to the long-haired and improbably named Lonnie Frisbee ( Jonathan Roumie ). Initially certain that Frisbee is just an irresponsible hippie, Smith is impressed with his sincerity, humility, and dedication to the messages of Jesus about generosity and a spirit of welcome. Frisbee tells Smith there’s an opportunity to reach hippies because all of the things that worry him, their rejection of their parents’ values. Their experimentation with drugs is a search “for all the right things in all the wrong places.” He believes he can show them that the right place is God. 

Smith brings Frisbee and his followers into his home and his church. When the parishioners complain about the newcomers’ dirty bare feet, the pastor does what Jesus did: he washes their feet. Some members of the church leave in disgust. Others are touched by the newcomers’ sincerity.

And there are a lot of newcomers. There are joyous mass baptisms in the Pacific Ocean. Smith’s promise is a big one: “It’s not something to explain. It’s something to be experienced. What you’re seeing is a symbol of new life. Every doubt, every regret, all washed away forever.” 

Much of this story is seen through the eyes of Laurie ( Joel Courtney ), whose book inspired the film. He comes first as an observer, bringing his movie camera. When a reporter asks if he is part of “God’s forever family,” he shrugs, “I don’t really know what a family feels like.” He finds himself drawn to the sense of community, purpose, and spirituality Smith and Frisbee are offering. He is also drawn to Cathe ( Anna Grace Barlow, engagingly natural), though it takes a bit longer to figure that out. The real-life Greg Laurie is a pastor, married to Cathe. 

The “contributing” parishioners say they feel uncomfortable. Smith tells them that perhaps that should be his purpose. The people he wants to comfort are the young people seeking God, not those who think they already found Him. And yet, that is just what this film does not do. Smith promises forgiveness, freedom, and acceptance, “No guilt trips. This is your home.” In other words, comfort. Yet, when Smith and Frisbee have an acrimonious split after Frisbee starts exhibiting signs of instability and grandiosity, all we learn is a brief text over the end credits that they later reconciled. There is nothing about the troubled years covered in the documentary, “Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher.”

This film is capably made but superficial. It’s tricky to balance acceptance, guidance, and consequences; it is impossible to make everyone feel equally valued all the time. “Jesus Revolution” is more of a wistful wish to bring in a wave of new followers than an effort to understand what they’ll need once they’re there. To quote Jack Kornfield, from another faith tradition, “after the ecstasy comes the laundry.” 

Now playing in theaters. 

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

• Joel Courtney as Greg Laurie
• Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee
• Kimberly Williams-Paisley as
• Anna Grace Barlow as
• Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith
• Julia Campbell as
• Jackson Robert Scott as
• Nicholas Cirillo as
• Alexia Ioannides as

Cinematographer

• Akis Konstantakopoulos
• Brent McCorkle

Writer (based on book)

• Ellen Vaughn
• Greg Laurie

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Jesus Revolution

The true story of a national spiritual awakening in the early 1970s and its origins within a community of teenage hippies in Southern California. The true story of a national spiritual awakening in the early 1970s and its origins within a community of teenage hippies in Southern California. The true story of a national spiritual awakening in the early 1970s and its origins within a community of teenage hippies in Southern California.

• Brent Mccorkle
• Ellen Vaughn
• Greg Laurie
• Joel Courtney
• Jonathan Roumie
• Kimberly Williams-Paisley
• 195 User reviews
• 51 Critic reviews
• 46 Metascore
• 2 nominations

Top cast 57

• Lonnie Frisbee

• Chuck Smith

• Janette Smith

• Janis Joplin

• Roger Hersh

• Father Malone
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia One of the men that Lonnie Frisbee , portrayed by Jonathan Roumie , talks to on the pier is Paras Patel who also plays Matthew in The Chosen (2017) alongside Roumie.
• Goofs Lonnie lost his long walking staff when he got picked up by the side of the road.

Chuck Smith : So many voices, it's hard to hear the truth.

Kay : The truth is always quiet. It's the lies that are loud.

Chuck Smith : It's complicated.

Kay : The truth is simple.

• Connections Featured in The 700 Club: Episode dated 24 February 2023 (2023)
• Soundtracks I Just Want to Celebrate Written by Dino Fekaris , Nick Zesses Performed by Rare Earth Courtesy of Motown Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 195

• Feb 23, 2023
• How long is Jesus Revolution? Powered by Alexa
• February 24, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Roku [united states]
• İsa Hareketi
• Fairhope, Alabama, USA
• Kingdom Story Company
• Lionsgate Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $52,102,987
• $15,882,067
• Feb 26, 2023
• $54,295,801

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours
• Dolby Digital

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‘Jesus Revolution’ Review: Solid Faith-Based Movie Remembers Time When Christians Welcomed Longhairs Into the Flock

The rise of youth-centric “Jesus People” from the hippie movement is portrayed in this imperfect but warmly engaging drama. 

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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Half a century ago Hollywood was frantically trying to figure out the newly-dominant “youth market.” Since some of that market had recently found Jesus, there was a brief spate of related films: Zefferelli’s hippie-fied St. Francis biopic “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” adapted stage musicals “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Godspell,” the Billy Graham-produced “A Time to Run” chief among them. But as the “Jesus Movement” got absorbed into more mainstream institutions, the brief vogue flickered out. 

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Meanwhile, staid pastor Chuck Smith (Grammer) presides over a dwindling congregation. When he expresses prim disapproval of the hippie phenomenon scrutinized on network TV news, his own teen daughter Janette (Ally Ioannides) scoffs such lack of understanding may be “why your church is so empty.” Picking up a hitchhiker one day, she sees a golden opportunity in the form of shaggy Lonnie Frisbee (Roumie). With “Jesus Loves You” hand-painted on his poncho, he announces he’s “down from San Francisco spreading the Good News to whoever wants to hear it.” “You’ve got to meet my father,” she grins.

Their meeting is one of “Jesus Revolution’s” high points, as the guileless evangelical positivity of this Jesus-looking (and more importantly, -acting) guy duly wins over the resistant Chuck. Saying his generation is on a “quest for God” — whether they realize it or not — but that “We can only go through doors that are open to us,” Lonnie persuades the older man to invite his kind into his suburban church. That influx ruffles some preexisting parishioners. But the trickle of newcomers, drawn by Lonnie’s charisma and message, soon becomes a flood, with Greg and Cathe prominent among them.

Like a born-again version of Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock,” “Jesus Revolution” revisits the “turbulent” ’60s to praise rather than bury, celebrating the essential optimism of its nonconformist youth. Most of this new effort effectively channels that same effervescent spirit, while extending empathy to parental figures struggling to comprehend offspring who’ve suddenly turned alien. It’s to the filmmakers’ credit that there’s at least as much period flavor in scenes of communal hanging out amongst subsidiary characters (some deploying old-school psychedelic visual effects) as in a larger-scale set-piece involving stand-ins for Janis Joplin and Allen Ginsberg. 

The infectious welcome provided by Frisbee’s brand of religious outreach, bolstered by “Jesus music” from seminal Christian rock band Love Song, helped turn Smith’s Calvary Chapel into the incubator for an explosively growing movement. By 1971 it, and the principal players depicted here, landed on the cover of “Time Magazine” (DeVon Franklin plays its investigative reporter). 

But art echoes life here in shunting Lonnie Frisbee out of the picture under questionable pretenses, at which late point some of the air goes out of the movie. We’re left stuck with Smith and Laurie, their boring self-doubts and the underwritten women in their lives, whom Erwin and John Gunn’s screenplay finally gives something to do — they get to tell our remaining heroes how wonderful they are, and how important their mission. Even Frisbee has a torch-passing speech to Greg, which feels labored.

Grammer’s sincere turn puts some nuance into the somewhat pat portrayal of Chuck’s evolution from hippie-allergic to hippie advocate, while Courtney and the other younger players do well, even if they seem a mite mature for high schoolers. (For that matter, Roumie looks about twice the age Frisbee was at the time.) And the film does clamber back onto higher ground after a turgid 20 minutes or so by ending with a montage of footage from the era, showing the extent to which so-called “Jesus People” fueled a global phenomenon. That considerably helps close “Jesus Revolution” on the buoyantly proselytizing note Erwin and McCorkle intended. 

Their Kingdom Story Co. production is pleasingly assembled in all departments without seeming over-slick, its throwback vibe nicely conveyed by production designer Aimee Holmberg and Anna Redmon’s costumes — even if Alabama locations must pass for So. Cal. ones. There’s a sufficient soundtrack sprinkling of more-or-less timely archival tracks by Rare Earth, Edwin Star, America, the Doobie Brothers and others amid contributions from latter-day Christian pop artists. 

Reviewed online, Feb. 20, 2023. MPA rating: PG-13. Running time: 120 MIN.

• Production: A Lionsgate release of a Kingdom Story Co. production. Producers: Kevin Downes, Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin, Daryl Lefever, Joshua Walsh, Jerilyn Equibel. Executive producers: Tony Young, Jon Gunn. 
• Crew: Directors: Jon Erwin, Brent McCorkle. Screenplay: John Gunn, Erwin, based on the book by Ellen Santilli Vaughn, Greg Laurie. Camera: Akis Konstantakopoulos. Editor: John Puckett. Music: McCorkle.
• With: Joel Courtney, Jonathan Roumie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Anna Grace Barlow, Kelsey Grammer, Nic Bishop, Jackson Robert Scott, Nicholas Cirillo, Ally Ioannides, Julia Campbell, Mina Sundwall, DeVon Franklin, Charlie Morgan Patton, Jolie Jenkins. 

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Jesus Revolution

By Alan Ng | February 23, 2023

As a million thoughts swirled through my head, the loudest one was shouting that I had to review directors Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle’s feature film,  Jesus Revolution . The screenplay by Erwin and Jon Gunnis is based on the book by Pastor Greg Laurie. I became an Evangelical Christian in the late 70s and lived in Southern California at the tail end of the  Jesus Movement  era this drama depicts, so I’m very familiar with the main players. For all intent and purpose, the film is the origin story of one of the largest Christian churches in Southern California, Calvary Chapel.

Kelsey Grammer plays Calvary’s longtime pastor Chuck Smith (who passed away in 2013). In Orange County, California, Chuck humbly leads a small flock in a dwindling church. After a fight, his daughter, Janette (Ally Ioannides), storms off in a rage and runs into a hippie named Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie). Lonnie delivers a message about Jesus Christ that she had never heard before, especially from her father. Lonnie’s message was simply that Jesus loved the sinner, and no matter how much you think you ruined your life (particularly through drugs), there is hope in Jesus Christ.

Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee in Jesus Revolution. Photo Credit: Dan Anderson

“ Chuck decides to give this hippie a chance by allowing him to preach at his church.”

Chuck decides to give this hippie a chance by allowing him to preach at his church. Lonnie brought an unorthodox, casual, heartfelt message to the congregation and a full folk band, Lovesong, to bring modern worship music to replace the hymns of old. Let’s just say that Lonnie doesn’t impress the old guard, who threatened to leave the church penniless because… how much do hippies make exactly?

Jesus Revolution  is also the story of Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), a straight-laced teen on his way to the military academy at his parents’ behest. Before entering, he meets Cathe (Anna Grace Barlow), who would change Greg’s life with her hippie lifestyle and ample supply of drugs. After the near-death of their close friend, Greg and Cathe give Jesus a chance after attending one of Chuck and Lonnie’s services.

I have mixed emotions about the film, all personal in nature. Suffice it to say, it brought me back to a time in history, including my own, when the spirit of God was moving through the young folk of Southern California, and Chuck Smith was one of the figureheads. So there’s a true spirit and message of love and redemption here that I miss and haven’t felt in a long time. And that’s what I hope you take away. When life has beaten you down, and you have nothing left, there is hope in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Revolution (2023)

Directed: Jon Erwin, Brent McCorkle

Written: Jon Erwin, Jon Gunn

Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Jonathan Roumie, Joel Courtney, Anna Grace Barlow, etc.

Movie score: 8/10

"…feels authentic to my personal experience with Christianity."

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Very nice review, except you are wrong about Bible Belt Christians hating the movie. I have not heard one person say anything about the film not condemning sinners. The message it sends about Jesus, and the changed lives of those who put their faith Him. I have read nothing but great reviews from Christians all over this country. I am so glad this film is touching so many lives for Jesus.

Excellent review. Enjoyed the movie too.

Should ask Greg Laurie and Calvary Chapel about cover up of Applegate Christian Fellowship youth pastor Kelly Rasmussen convicted child predator the pastor Jon Courson son beat rape charge media Cover Up have YouTube channel about it

Several of my contemporaries became Christian as a result of the Jesus Movement, not the Jesus Revolution as the film calls it. I wonder how so many of them became Trump supporters in 2016 after many years as Christians. Bigotry, misogyny and favoring guilty over the innocent are not biblical values. I note that Greg Laurie spoke at Trump inaugural event in Washington National Cathedral in 2017.

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Review: Fleeced of real drama, faith-based ‘Jesus Revolution’ is a scattered slog

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It’s been fascinating to watch the rise and evolution of the faith-based movie and director Jon Erwin has been a part of that. He’s carved out a niche, collaborating with his brother Andrew and focusing on true stories with a musical element, including “I Still Believe,” about Christian music star Jeremy Camp, and “I Can Only Imagine,” about the band MercyMe. The Erwin brothers also co-directed the documentary “The Jesus Music,” which has a direct tie to Jon Erwin’s latest narrative feature, “Jesus Revolution.” Both films focus on the evangelical Christian movement that took place in Southern California in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

For “Jesus Revolution,” Jon Erwin co-directs with Brent McCorkle, the writer of “I Can Only Imagine,” from a script by Erwin and Jon Gunn adapted from a book by Greg Laurie and Ellen Vaughn. Laurie is, in fact, the subject of “Jesus Revolution,” played by Joel Courtney. But the film, part biopic, part period piece, juggles three different protagonists while trying to tell the story of the Jesus movement, including Laurie, Laurie’s mentor, Chuck Smith, played by Kelsey Grammer , and hippie evangelist Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie).

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As depicted in “Jesus Revolution,” Smith and Frisbee were huge influences on Laurie, a young teen growing up in Newport Beach with a troubled mother (Kimberly Williams-Paisley). When a comely young gal, Cathe (Anna Grace Barlow) breaks him out of military school, Greg dabbles in the drug-fueled hippie lifestyle, before a few near-death experiences lead him and Cathe to search for something more, a different kind of high.

At the same time, Chuck Smith is struggling to reconcile his concern over the hippie movement with his daughter Janette’s (Ally Ioannides) rebellion, and dwindling church attendance. When Janette brings home Lonnie, Chuck initially balks, but soon realizes that the young man’s message is closer to Christ’s than he thought. It also has to help that with his beard, long hair and hand-painted cape, Lonnie looks a lot like the common depictions of (white) Jesus (whom Roumie plays in the streaming series “The Chosen” ). Soon, Chuck’s preaching at Calvary Chapel is less fire and brimstone and more peace and love, with a rock band, Love Song, to boot.

The storylines converge when Lonnie brings in Greg, who becomes a young leader in the burgeoning Jesus movement, as the three men navigate the ups and downs that this growth entails. It’s an interesting enough story, with text at the end of the film claiming that it was the “largest spiritual awakening in America” and a Time magazine cover story, “The Jesus Revolution,” woven into the narrative as well.

Unfortunately, despite the interesting history, the film itself is a dry, scattered slog, neutered of all the thorny, contradictory details of the real story. Give Lonnie Frisbee’s Wikipedia page a quick scan to see just how much material the filmmakers excised from his fascinating, troubled life. Though the intent is to focus on Greg Laurie’s life, including flashbacks to his childhood, screenwriters Erwin and Gunn can’t quite pick a lane, giving us three rather shallow storylines about three different men, with often unnecessary details that bog down the film’s momentum — at two hours, it feels long.

Jesus, drugs and rock ’n’ roll: How an O.C. hippie church birthed contemporary Christian music

“The Jesus Music” documentary traces the roots of contemporary Christian music to Costa Mesa’s Calvary Chapel, now a megachurch, then a haven for hippies.

Oct. 5, 2021

“Jesus Revolution” is also a completely uncritical portrait of the Jesus movement. Because this is a faith-based film, it simply presents the genesis of this “spiritual awakening” and explosion of these churches, without examining any of the potential dark sides or ramifications of how this evangelical Christian movement has impacted American culture and politics in the decades since.

Sepia-toned cinematography by Akis Konstantakopoulos gives “Jesus Revolution” the sheen of a 1960s-set period piece, and Courtney and Barlow capably hold up their end of the story of two “Jesus freaks” in love, but “Jesus Revolution” is clearly a piece of sanded-down marketing material for Calvary Chapel and Greg Laurie’s Harvest Crusades, with all the burrs of real history buffed out, rendering the film a smooth, but crushingly dull project.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

‘Jesus Revolution’

Rated: PG-13, for strong drug content involving teens and some thematic elements Running time: 2 hours Playing: Starts Feb. 24 in general release

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Jesus Revolution: release date, reviews, cast and everything we know about the faith-based movie

Hippies meet Christians and form a bond in this movie based on a true story.

Inspirational faith-based stories have found a niche in the movies in recent years, and Jesus Revolution is the latest example, joining the slate of 2023 new movies . This based-on-a-true-story movie sees how two groups that couldn't appear more different are able to come together in their faith.

Jesus Revolution comes from the team that made 2018's I Can Only Imagine , which made more than $80 million at the US box office. Other examples of faith-based movies that have had success in recent years include American Underdog , Miracles from Heaven , God's Not Dead , Breakthrough and Heaven is for Real . Can Jesus Revolution have similar success?

Here is everything you need to know about Jesus Revolution .

Jesus Revolution release date

Jesus Revolution debuts exclusively in movie theaters on February 24. It's a fitting bit of counter-programming if the R-rated Cocaine Bear movie is not necessarily your speed. 

Check out our post on how to watch Jesus Revolution for more info.

Jesus Revolution plot

Based on the book Jesus Revolution: How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today by Greg Laurie and Ellen Vaugh, Jesus Revolution tells a version of Laurie's story on how he found his faith in the '60s and '70s with the help of some unlikely people. Here is the official synopsis:

"In the 1970s, young Greg Laurie is searching for all the right things in all the wrong places: until he meets Lonnie Frisbee, a charismatic hippie-street-preacher. Together with Pastor Chuck Smith, they open the doors of Smith's languishing church to an unexpected revival of radical and newfound love, leading to what TIME Magazine dubbed a JESUS REVOLUTION."

The script was written by Jon Erwin and Jon Gunn.

Jesus Revolution trailer

Watch the trailer for Jesus Revolution right here: 

Jesus Revolution cast

The biggest name attached to Jesus Revolution is Kelsey Grammer, who is set to play the role of Pastor Chuck Smith. Grammer is of course best known for playing Fraiser Crane in both the Cheers and Fraiser TV shows, the latter of which is getting a reboot on Paramount Plus . More recently, he's been seen in Dr. Death , Moneyplane and he continues to voice Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons .

The movie also features Jonathan Rumie as Lonnie Frisbee. Rumie has experience in faith-based titles, playing Jesus in the TV series The Chosen . Playing Greg Laurie in the movie, meanwhile, is Joel Courtney, who is best known for his role in the Netflix rom-com franchise The Kissing Booth .

Also starring in the movie are Kimberly Williams-Paisley ( Dog Gone ), Anna Grace Barlow ( The Big Leap ), Nicholas Cirillo ( Outer Banks ), DeVon Franklin ( Canal Street ) and more.

Jesus Revolution reviews — what the critics are saying

There definitely appears to be a divide between critics and audiences on Jesus Revolution, at least looking at the movie's Rotten Tomatoes scores. Critics are split at 50% on the movie, though that does technically classify it as "Rotten." General moviegoers who have seen the movie, however, have thrown their full support behind the movie, giving it an Audience score of 100% (both scores as of February 23).

Jesus Revolution director

Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle co-directed Jesus Revolution . Erwin's previous directing credits include American Underdog , I Still Believe and I Can Only Imagine , all of which he co-directed with his brother Andrew Erwin (while not directing, Andrew Erwin is a producer on Jesus Revolution ).

For McCorkle, this is his biggest directing credit to date, though he previously worked with Erwin as the composer for I Can Only Imagine .

How long is Jesus Revolution?

The total runtime for Jesus Revolution is two hours.

What is Jesus Revolution rated?

Jesus Revolution is rated PG-13 for "strong drug content involving teens and some thematic elements."

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Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Jesus Revolution Gets Big Love from Filmgoers Despite Rotten Reviews

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Critics haven't been very kind on Jesus Revolution ... but audiences don't care. Directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, Jesus Revolution was just released in movie theaters by Lionsgate. Based on true events, the film respectively stars Joel Courtney and Kelsey Grammer as a youth minister and pastor who partner up with teenage hippies in the 1970s to create a spiritual awakening that continues to this day.

Upon its debut, Jesus Revolution was slapped with a rotten score of 56% at Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics, such as our own Julian Roman, found joy in watching the film, with Roman noting in his review that it was "a pleasure to leave the theater with a smile." Bringing the film's score down are others who've been much more critical, with one reviewer calling the film religious "propaganda" and another describing Jesus Revolution as "an average movie at best."

"The intentions are pure enough, but the film suffers from a narrow historical perspective and a muddled narrative focus while trying to push its message," as Cinemalogue's Todd Jorgenson puts it.

Meanwhile, most filmgoers appear to be walking away satisfied after watching Jesus Revolution . The audience score at Rotten Tomatoes is nearly perfect at 99%, a far cry from the 56% rotten rating it got from critics. Better yet, most of these fan ratings come from five-star reviews. It's getting a lot of praise for being "thought provoking," "inspirational," "heartwarming," and "not that junk that usually comes out of Hollywood."

What's more, Jesus Revolution has also been given a rare A+ grade by CinemaScore , which quizzes filmgoers on their opinion upon seeing a new movie. Not very movies manage to rank as high as A+, making this quite the accomplishment for Jesus Revolution . Only two movies grabbed the coveted score last year: Top Gun: Maverick and The Woman King .

Related: Exclusive: Jesus Revolution Cast on Bringing a Real-Life Story to the Big Screen

Jesus Revolution Lands With Audiences

Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle directed the film using a screenplay Erwin co-wrote with Jon Gunn. The movie stars Joel Courtney, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Grace Barlow, Jonathan Roumie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Nicholas Cirillo, and Ally Ioannides. Erwin produced with Andrew Erwin, Kevin Downes, Daryl Lefever, Josh Walsh, Jerilyn Equibel, Katelyn Botsch, and Bekah Hubbell.

The official synopsis for the film reads:

In the 1970s, young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) is searching for all the right things in all the wrong places: until he meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie-street-preacher. Together with Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), they open the doors of Smith’s languishing church to an unexpected revival of radical and newfound love, leading to what TIME Magazine dubbed a JESUS REVOLUTION.

You can watch Jesus Revolution in movie theaters.

• Jesus Revolution (2023)

CULTURE MIX

Where Lifestyle Cultures Blend

Review: ‘Jesus Revolution,’ starring Joel Courtney, Jonathan Roumie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Kelsey Grammer

Arts and Entertainment

Ally Ioannides , Anna Grace Barlow , Brent McCorkle , California , DeVon Franklin , drama , Erin Schaut , Greg Laurie , Jackson Robert Scott , Jesus Revolution , Joel Courtney , Jon Erwin , Jonathan Roumie , Julia Campbell , Kelsey Grammer , Kimberly Williams-Paisley , movies , Nic Bishop , Nicholas Cirillo , reviews

March 1, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Jesus Revolution”

Directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle

Culture Representation:  Taking place primarily in California in the early 1970s (with some flashbacks to the 1960s), the faith-based dramatic film “Jesus Revolution” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash:  A troubled and wayward teenager finds his purpose in life when he joins a group of hippies who become born-again Christians. 

Culture Audience:  “Jesus Revolution” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching faith-based biopics that make real events and real people look overly contrived for the purpose of the movie’s agenda.

The problems with “Jesus Revolution” have nothing do with religion. This 1970s-set biopic drama about Harvest Crusades founder Greg Laurie has too many bad scenes with hokey dialogue and subpar acting. Many of the cast members are not convincing as hippies. It’s an unfortunate drawback to the film, whose very foundation is about how counterculture hippies in early 1970s California became Christian fanatics who were part of the Jesus movement that spanned from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.

Directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, “Jesus Revolution” is a disjointed and somewhat rambling movie that can’t decide how much it wants to be a biopic (which it mostly is) and how much it wants to be a historical drama about a Christian youth culture movement that peaked in 1972. Erwin and Jon Gunn co-wrote the “Jesus Revolution” screenplay, which is based on Laurie’s 2018 memoir of the same name. The movie has a lot very corny and trite scenarios that don’t look authentic at all. If this movie had not been based on a true story, then this lack of authenticity might be easier to overlook.

In its over-reaching zeal to put a glossy spin on this movement, “Jesus Revolution” never adequately addresses how hippies who wanted to drop out of society and turned to drugs could then want to become part of society and preach against their formerly “sinful” lifestyles. “Jesus Revolution” makes it look like all it would take for people to change their lifestyles so dramatically in a short period of time is to attend a few services at a church led by a sympathetic pastor. “Jesus Revolution” also looks like it deliberately omitted a lot of unflattering information about Laurie during the period of time in his life that is depicted in the movie.

Greg Laurie (played by Joel Courtney), who is the main protagonist of “Jesus Revolution,” is shown in the beginning of the movie attending a Christian group mass baptism at Pirate’s Cove in Pismo Beach, California, sometime in 1971. Most of the people getting baptisms at this event are people in their teens and 20s. Greg is about 18 years old at the time. At Pirate’s Cove, Greg is being interviewed by a reporter named Josiah (played by DeVon Franklin) from Time magazine. Josiah asks Greg, “How did you end up here?”

The movie then flashes back to a year earlier, when Greg was a student cadet at a strict military academy. At the time, he was still living with his alcoholic, divorced mother Charlene (played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley), who pressured Greg to attend this school. Greg’s father abandoned the family when Greg was a very young child and has not been in contact with Charlene or Greg ever since leaving.

It’s not clear how long Charlene has been an alcoholic, but the movie implies that she went on a downward spiral after Greg’s father left the family. Flashbacks to the 1960s show that Charlene is often a neglectful parent who gets involved in several bad relationships. (Jackson Robert Scott has the role of an adolescent Greg in these flashbacks.) In real life, Greg Laurie’s mother was married seven times. He and his mother also moved around a lot.

In the movie, Greg keeps hoping that his father will come back to the family someday, but Charlene abruptly tells him not to bother thinking that Greg’s father will ever contact them again. When Charlene decides to move to California for a fresh start, Greg is upset because he thinks that his father won’t be able to find them if they move. Charlene and Greg settle in California’s Orange County, near Long Beach. By 1970, Greg is enrolled in a military academy and not liking it very much. He is a loner who doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere.

One day, Greg (who is an aspiring illustrator) is taking photos at a park when he meets a hippie around his age named Charlie (played by Nicholas Cirillo), who is friendly and very stoned. Charlie immediately notices that Greg has been staring at Charlie’s attractive blonde friend named Cathe (played by Anna Grace Barlow), so Charlie introduces Cathe (pronounced “Cathy”) to Greg. Cathe is impressed that Greg reads the work of poet/writer Allen Ginsberg, because she does too. It’s at this point in the movie that you know Cathe and Greg will eventually fall in love with each other. Greg is instantly smitten, but he’s insecure and shy, compared to confident and outgoing Cathe.

Charlie and Cathe invite Greg to a “happening” (a gathering of young people who want to party), which is taking place in Laguna Beach. Janis Joplin (played by Erin Schaut) is doing a concert on a beach. The concert looks very fake because die-hard Joplin fans know that she never did this type of beach concert in real life.

The way Greg goes to this concert looks very phony too. Charlie and Cathe show up outside the window of a classroom where Greg is. They tell him he needs to go with them to the concert right now. When Greg gets up to leave, the classroom instructor says that if Greg leaves, he can’t come back. Greg tells the teacher that Greg is counting on not coming back.

Meanwhile, a Christian pastor named Chuck Smith (played by Kelsey Grammer) and his devoted wife Kay Smith (played by Julia Campbell) are watching the TV news in their home and expressing disgust at the hippie movement, which they think is degenerate and the cause of lot of America’s problems. “They need a bath,” Chuck sneers when he comments about hippies. (In real life, Chuck Smith founded the Calvary Chapel movement.)

Chuck leads a Costa Mesa, California-based church that is struggling with a dwindling congregation. Chuck and Kay have a slightly rebellious daughter named Janette Smith (played by Ally Ioannides), who’s about 17 years old. Janette looks bored every time she has to go to church. Unlike her parents, Janette thinks “what the hippies are doing is beautiful.” She tells her skeptical parents that hippies want the same things that conservative Christians want: “peace and love.”

One day, Janette is driving by herself on a deserted road, when she sees a hippie in his 20s who is walking by himself. Because Janette is fascinated with hippies, she stops the car and asks this stranger if he wants a ride. It’s a very unsafe thing to do, but Janette doesn’t care, because she wants to get to know a hippie instead of just hearing about hippies from the media. The hippie says yes to Janette’s offer for a ride.

His name is Lonnie Frisbee (played by Jonathan Roumie), and Janette immediately brings him home, to the horror of her parents. Lonnie admits to Chuck that he takes illegal drugs for “spiritual enlightenment,” but Lonnie insists that he is also very religious and believes in Jesus Christ. It doesn’t take long for Lonnie to invite his hippie friends to go over to the Smith house without asking permission. (How rude.)

And then the next thing you know, Lonnie and his hippie pals are going to Chuck’s church, where Lonnie gives a rambling sermon while barefoot. Some of the congregation members are repulsed and quit the church when Chuck refuses to reject and ban the hippies. Chuck sees the benefit of having young people increase his church’s attendance, so he eventually learns to accept the hippies.

Meanwhile, Greg gets involved in taking drugs and partying a lot with Charlie and Cathe. He becomes part of Lonnie’s born-again hippie Christian crowd when he meets Lonnie by chance one very rainy night. It’s another scene that looks entirely fabricated for a movie.

Greg is a passenger in a car driven by Charlie, who is intoxicated from unnamed substances. The car is swerving on a street and narrowly misses hitting another car. Greg is so freaked out, he gets out of the car and runs away. And when he runs away in the rain, he sees Lonnie walking by himself on the street, which is apparently the way that teenagers in “Jesus Revolution” meet Lonnie.

The rest of “Jesus Revolution” is a predictable slog of Greg and Cathe getting caught up in the born-again Christian movement, where they recruit other young people. Lonnie becomes an important part of Chuck’s ministry. Greg joins a Christian rock band called Love Song. Cathe’s father Dick (played by Nic Bishop) disapproves of Greg because Greg doesn’t come from a “good family.” And there’s more family drama with Greg’s mother Charlene.

Of course, “Jesus Revolution” has lots of scenes of young hippies gathered in large groups and praising the Lord in ecstasy. Although the movie makes it look like it’s all a natural high, the reality is (as Lonnie hints at in the movie), a lot it was probably done under the influence of drugs. And that’s one of many reasons why “Jesus Revolution” doesn’t look entirely honest, because in the movie, realistic drug issues are either ignored or dealt with in a preachy manner.

Although many drug-using hippies no doubt gave up having a druggie lifestyle after becoming born-again Christians, the movie doesn’t really acknowledge that a lot of the hardcore drug-using hippies who became part of the Jesus movement didn’t just wake up one day and decide to quit using drugs. “Jesus Revolution” makes it look like all these drug-using hippies suddenly became clean and sober once they became born-again Christians. In reality, people’s lives are much more complicated than that.

“Jesus Revolution” also avoids acknowledging that although the Jesus movement preached inclusivity of everyone, the young hippies (almost all are white) who get the focus in this movie came from middle-class and affluent families—in other words, people who could afford to “drop out” of society or go to college and not have the responsibilities of a steady job for a few years. At one point, Lonnie says: “We’re all orphans. We’re a movement of orphans.” Well, a lot of these “orphans” had trust funds.

Chuck’s acceptance of these hippies into his church probably wasn’t as altruistic and spiritual as the movie makes it look. There was probably a financial incentive too. More congregants can result in more donations for Chuck’s church. A lot of these hippies might have been walking around in bare feet, but they weren’t poor.

There’s a very mushy scene where Chuck responds to some churchgoers’ complaints about the hippies attending church in bare feet. In order to prove that he has the humility of Jesus Christ, Chuck washes the feet of the hippies (just like Jesus did in the Bible) when they enter his church. Chuck goes from being a hater of hippies to being one of their biggest supporters in his community.

“Jesus Revolution” has a good selection of soundtrack songs, including Rare Earth’s 1971 hit “I Just Want to Celebrate” and the Doobie Brothers’ 1972 classic “Jesus Is Just Alright.” However, the movie just looks like a bunch of cast members playing 1970s dress-up (some of them in really cheap-looking wigs) and reciting their lines of fake-sounding dialogue. And ultimately, the movie looks more like a fairy tale than an authentic depiction of real people involved in a historical movement.

Lionsgate released “Jesus Revolution” in U.S. cinemas on February 24, 2023. A special sneak-preview event of the movie was held in select U.S. cinemas on February 22, 2023.

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