DATE REVIEWED: 4/2/23
TITLE: Sheep & Wolves – Pig Deal
BOX OFFICE RATED: NR
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2018 Vertical Entertainment/Cinema Fund Russia/Wizart Film/CTB Film Company/Pro Films/Koch Media/Nashe Kino
RATING [1 LEAST FAVORITE TO 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]: 2
REASON: This cartoon is about a village of sheep and wolves led by a wolf named Grey. The movie began with the dark wolves, led by the evil dark wolf Gark, confronted Mami (Mommy), the gypsy hare (bright pink skirt with red and white polka dot kerchief), about the village. They told her that predator and prey living in peace with each other was against the laws of nature. Mami refused to tell the dark wolves where the village was, so they captured her. When Grey discovered a white fox named Simone, and an ewe named Josey, being chased by the dark wolves, Grey went to rescue the two and welcomed them to his village. Grey told his village that the dark wolves wanted things to go back to the way they were before and would attack if they didn’t get their way. Grey’s village started building a fortress, and the sheep and wolves were trained for the fight. However, the dark wolves sabotaged the building by altering the blueprint plans so the fortress came crashing to the ground. Grey decided they needed Mami’s help, and Simone informed him that Mami was Gark’s prisoner. Grey and his wife, Bianca, rescued Mami, and she made a potion for the villagers to use to defeat the dark wolves. She tested it first on Josey, and it worked and gave Josey super-strength. The next day, the dark wolves showed up and everyone drank their potions. However, they all turned into little pigs because a wolf named Skinny had betrayed his own village by swapping the strength potion with a transmutation the night before. Skinny regretted joining forces with the dark wolves when he discovered that they planned to feast on the pigs. Skinny was locked up with Grey, who hadn’t taken the potion, and Josey (still with super-strength) rescued them later on. Skinny got the original potion and turned everyone back to their normal selves while Grey confronted Gark, who had been giving a speech to the villagers who he called filthy pigs and telling them nobody was allowed to disagree with or disobey him. Grey and Gark fought it out, and Mami and Simone convinced the rest of the dark wolves that they could be whatever they wanted (like knitting and botany) and be in peace with the prey animals instead of being savage predators. Gark decided to drink the entire pot of potion thinking it was the strength potion, but he was transformed into an angry little pig. The movie ended with the village at peace, Grey and Bianca had a son named Duke, and Josey started transforming back into her crocodile self as she sat with Ike the ram on a hill.
DATE REVIEWED: 4/1/23
TITLE: Paws P.I.
BOX OFFICE RATED: PG (This movie is not suitable for GOD’s children.)
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2018 Lionsgate/Ataraxia Entertainment/G It’s Entertainment
RATING [1 LEAST FAVORITE TO 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]: 1
REASON: The movie began with eleven-year-old Peter Williams home from the skate park late again for lunch again. Peter’s dad, Connor wasn’t happy about that, but Peter explained that he loved skateboarding and it helped him get through the recent death of his mother, Carol. Connor informed Peter that the following day, they would go to the cemetery for Carol’s one-year memorial service. Peter’s best friend, Madison, came over and told Peter that Connor shut down his private eye office in town, which he didn’t tell Peter about. Peter suggested that Connor reopen his office in their garage, and Connor agreed that was a good idea.Because Connor had to sell their car (and some of their belongings), Aunt Niki and Uncle George picked up Connor and Peter for the memorial service. Afterwards, Niki reminded Connor about her husband George’s offer for Connor to come work for him since there was no money in his PI business. Connor replied that he couldn’t do that because that’s not what Carol would have wanted. Connor and Peter cleaned the garage out and moved his office into it. Connor’s first customer was a veterinarian named Katherine Worthington, who told Connor that he was her last hope because no one else would take her case since her family owned half the town. Katherine explained that her Great Aunt Sally recently passed away, and Katherine was certain that somebody switched Sally’s will out with a fake one without her knowledge because the will left her mansion to Uncle Forrest instead of Katherine, and Katherine knew Sally would never do that because she didn’t trust her crooked and wealthy nephew. Sally had told Katherine the original copy of the will was inside her mansion, but Forrest wouldn’t let Katherine enter the building. Connor took the case and Katherine promised him $5,000 to get him started. Peter met with Forrest, who told him that Katherine was delusional and denied that the will had been altered, claiming that his aunt hadn’t been in her right mind near the end and Connor needed to drop the case. Crooked Forrest was in the process of tearing town buildings down for new construction and wanted all the squatters out of the buildings, and one of his paid henchmen, Clyde, reminded him that he even made Clyde throw his grand-mama out of the building she was squatting in, and Clyde still had the bruises to prove he did the job. Forrest told Clyde that he wanted his doctor to check Katherine’s mental state because she might need the help of a psychiatrist. He added that better yet, they could have Katherine committed “for her own good,” to get her out of Forrest’s hair.Forrest also planned to demolish the senior assisted living building and the rest of the block to build the Worthington mall. Connor told Katherine the news that he was going to have to drop the case because he couldn’t search the mansion for the will (which he suspected could be hidden in a false book that he had seen Forrest putting on the bookshelf), and he told Katherine to drop it as well. She replied that she wasn’t afraid of her uncle and wouldn’t be bullied by him, and then she left. Young Peter recruited young Madison and her poodle, Cleo, to join him and his dog, Jackson, so they could break into the Worthington mansion that night. They met Roscoe, a dog who Sally used to own but was now kept tied up outside by Clyde and Forrest’s other minion, Morris. Roscoe told them to get into the mansion through the side door that was unlocked, but the alarm went off and they fled the scene just as the two men came outside with their guns. Madison didn’t want to participate anymore after that. Peter’s parrot, Peabody (all the animals in the movie could talk, and Peabody spoke with a British accent while Cleo talked like a valley girl), overheard the minions telling the police that Connor broke into the mansion and stole items from it. The next morning, Detective Jim Harris and Detective Wanda Brown showed up at the door and questioned Connor. Because nobody could verify that Connor was at home when the break-in occurred, the detectives brought Connor to the police station. Jim told Connor that Forrest decided not to press charges, but he added that because Forrest could make things very difficult for Connor. Jim threateningly told Connor to stay away from Forrest and the mansion because next time he wouldn’t be so lucky. Crooked detective Jim then called Forrest and told him that Connor just left. At the vet office, Dr. Katherine and the receptionist, Cindy, watched the news report about Connor and learned there was a delay in the construction of the mall because there wasn’t enough land to build the parking lot on. Reporters showed up at Connor’s house asking him questions about the break-in, and he shut the door in their face and then opened it again a few minutes later to see Katherine. He made her promise to stay away from her uncle. However, Katherine immediately drove to the mansion afterwards and confronted Forrest, who informed her that the house was going to be torn down and it was too late to do anything about it because the city council already decided. Katherine said she would find proof that he changed the will to make it appear as if Sally left him everything, but he replied that he owned the town, every cop, and every politician in it, and nobody would believe Katherine anyway. Forrest then took the real will out of the false book and read that Sally did leave everything to her niece. Clyde locked Catherine in a room, where she remained until later that night when Madison, Peter, and their pets returned to the mansion and rescued Katherine. Katherine grabbed the will from the book and she and the kids escaped the house, but before they could get far, Jim appeared and told them they were all under arrest. Wanda and more police then arrived and arrested officer Jim, evil uncle Forrest, mobster Clyde, and the other criminal minded Morris. Connor showed up and was told that the kids solved the case, and he agreed to bring Roscoe home. One week later, the mansion was turned into Katherine’s own veterinary hospital and rescue. The cover art is very deceiving because the movie wasn’t really about Jackson the dog being a P.I., but the crazy awful drama of the adults. Also, on the front Cover Madison and Peter were riding skateboards, when in the movie only Peter rode a skateboard and Madison had a bicycle.
DATE REVIEWED: 3/30/23
TITLE: Brother White
BOX OFFICE RATED: NR
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2011 Pure Flix Entertainment/GMC Original Production
RATING [1 LEAST FAVORITE TO 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]: 2
REASON: This movie began with the song lyrics “What are you waiting for?” as Pastor James White and his family drove to church to teach his Sunday School class of toddlers at Pastor Johnny Kingman’s megachurch. Kingman and his wife walked out on stage like celebrities with a live band playing, and then Kingman made jokes about counting his blessings and telling the audience that him driving a Ferrari didn’t make him any more righteous than the 30,000 members in the audience and the millions more watching on TV. He went on to say that he was blessed because of who God is, not who Kingman is.James had been watching Kingman’s sermon on the TV during Sunday school at the church with the young ones, and now he shut the TV off and told the kids who Noah was. The very young children discussed how Noah and his family were safe inside the Ark while everybody else died and became bloated, floating corpses, which grossed out some of the kids (on the Noah’s Ark chart in the classroom, there was only the Ark, Noah and his family, and the animals, but no rainbow). James reported to Thad Nealy, Kingman’s secretary, where Thad said the problem with an outreach was they actually reached out because parents had phoned in when their toddlers had a problem with Sunday school. Thad told James it wouldn’t have been so bad if last week in Sunday school James had not explained to the kids where Cain got his wife (his sister). Thad announced that James was being bumped to a different position. Thad ran out into the hallway when he saw Kingman and his wife come into the room because Thad had been sitting with his feet on Kingman’s desk. Kingman told James that there was a difference between sharing God’s Word and scaring the world. As a result of the parents complaining, James was bumped back to 28th from number 12 on the list. He had planned to preach to the whole congregation next June, but now there were 27 other assistant pastors in front of him (many years of waiting).Outside, Thad pulled up to James in his sports car and told him he was lucky he had a job and he should have taken Thad’s advice about getting his pastoral degree with an MBA so he would have been indispensable like Thad. Lily (wife of James) replied that Thad was just Kingman’s secretary. He corrected that he was Kingman’s personal assistant and five years from then, he was going to be CFO. He added that the way to the top was through the pocketbook, not the pulpit. Later in the car, James and Lily’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Emma, called her mom, who told Emma that James would pick her up from the mall and not embarrass her in front of her friends. James picked up Emma and her friend, Carson, and both girls were on their cell phones in the backseat. Emma didn’t want to talk to her dad or even acknowledge him, and Carson told Emma that parents grew out of their dork stage and was also disrespectful to her friend’s, man of GOD, dad. The White family had dinner that night with Lily’s extremely wealthy parents, Howard and Victoria Chamberlain. At the table, Howard talked about the tsetse fly laying eggs in human skin (the same bloodsucking fly that transmits the deadly sleeping sickness disease to humans), and then the larvae becoming a butterfly. Howard then handed out presents to the kids. Emma received a myPHONE cell phone (a backup phone from the one grandpa gave her last month) and Cooper got a polo mallet. Emma and Cooper thanked Grandma and Grandpa for the presents and left the room with James telling Cooper not to kill anybody with his gift. Victoria told Lily she ran into Byron, Connie, and Blaine Cosgrove. She added that Blaine was always sweet on Lily from prom. Howard added laughingly that Victoria was only saying that because Blaine was now a senator. They discussed James in his current position teaching Sunday school kids, ages four to seven, and Howard said that he couldn’t argue with success when he drank his Cognac. Afterwards, out in the gazebo, James and Lily talked about his career and how he wished it were a bigger piece of God’s universe, but they both loved each other and that was most important. At church, Pastor Kingman preached about looking at each other as Jesus would, swimming in Lake You, climbing the summit of Mount You, and test-driving a brand-new, shiny, fully-equipped, victorious You (as Emma had to wake up Cooper who was sleeping). James suddenly got up from his chair and knocked over a Jesus painting, and ripped a hole in it, and tripped over other things as he tried to catch himself, which interrupted the sermon and silenced Kingman. James found himself in Kingman’s office, where Kingman said he hated to do this. James said he would pay for the damages, and even though it might take him a few years he was great with payment plans. Kingman told James that it wasn’t about the money, and James left. Kingman then called James back into the office and handed him a piece of paper that said the Divine Faith Apostolic Tabernacle Church in Atlanta, Georgia, with the slogan “Let the doors open wide and let the people rejoice.” James told Lily that meant he was going to be the pastor at that sister church. Lily questioned James on whether he read the details of the area he wanted to move to, and James replied he did and said he was going to be the pastor there, not an assistant pastor, so Lily supported her husband. However, Emma thought her dad was insane and said so, listing a bunch of reasons why the family shouldn’t live in Atlanta according to her girl world.Deacon Hill from Divine Faith picked up the White family from the airport. Hill explained that their last pastor got a better offer and moved to Hawaii. He told them their chariot awaited, and they all climbed into the back of his pickup truck (with Hill telling them it was like a hay ride) to be driven to their apartment above the church, which the single pastor had lived in, not a family of four. The next morning, as the movers brought the furniture into the very small living quarters, the church mechanical engineer, Clayton Hamilton, popped his head through the window and welcomed Lily to the neighborhood. Emma complained there was no refrigerator, and Clayton said he was going to scare up a freezerator. After he left through the second story window, Emma told Lily no wonder kids in her generation got tattoos. James was outside with one of the movers, Terry, and paused to speak to a homeless man who was sitting in the way. The man got up and sat in James’s chair, so James gave the guy the chair and he thanked the pastor and walked down the street with it. Mr. Spivey spied on them from a car and reported to Jacob Martin, the bank manager. Mr. Spivey told him that the church they were supposed to be tearing down next week had a new pastor, and added that it was impossible for him to demolish a building with people still in it, which also made it impossible for him to build his public housing and make money. Martin replied he would take care of it. James walked to the church, where he met his secretary, Delsey, who thought she was going to be fired on the spot for a reason she wouldn’t say. James assured her that she wouldn’t be fired and she pointed to his desk, which was not by the window but in the corner because she had the window desk. James was just happy to be a pastor. As the family got ready for the church service, Lily told James to go check on Cooper because he wasn’t getting ready. Cooper told James he was worried about the flood, not Noah’s flood, but the flood from the water dripping from the ceiling. The family was introduced to Veena Sharp, the choir director and organist, who was in the process of teaching a young girl named Nina how to sing. Veena wasn’t happy that the new pastor was not African-American and told Hill that when he was done playing The Waltons (introducing the White family) to please tell Veena what was going on. He explained the situation that Pastor White and his family had come a long way in the church’s time of need, and because James offered to be their pastor they were all very, very grateful for that. They were also introduced to Willy, Veena’s teenage son. In the office, Delsey started hyperventilating because she was nervous and didn’t like being around so many people. James said he was used to being of front of thousands of people, and then he was called out to the pulpit to preach to about a dozen people. He made a grand theatrical entrance asking the churchgoers if they could feel the Holy Spirit coming up out of them as he danced around. When he started lamely preaching that God wanted us to all be winners, people started leaving and saying “God help us.” James went to eat at the Silver Skillet restaurant, where the waitress called him an officer. He corrected her that he wasn’t a police officer, but she insisted on calling him one as she took his order because he was dressed in a suit and tie. Three men that were hanging around approached James, and he introduced himself as the new pastor of Divine Faith. Mr. E-zee Eight, a supposed record producer, handed James his card and said his mom used to work at the church and to call E-zee Eight if James needed anything. E-zee walked away, and Hill showed up. James told him that E-zee was a record producer, and Hill commented that was an interesting way to describe him. They had a talk, and James apologized for his debut that morning. Hill said that a few years ago, he went to Europe with his church and he saw the most amazing cathedrals there with stained-glass windows and spiral archways that appeared to reach all the way to Heaven. Hill said he could feel God’s presence there and added that the folks at Divine Faith operated on a much smaller budget. He said the difference was that in the small church, he could feel God working through the people and not the architecture. He recommended that James try to talk to the congregation, not at them, because they believed in the faith in James’s heart. Hill revealed that the church didn’t have time for James to get his act together, though, because they were late on the mortgage and the bank was going to foreclose. The church was flat-broke and had no money, and Hill speculated that the church would be absorbed by another church, and it would be a shame for them to lose the church, which was over 147 years old, on their watch because the neighborhood really needed Divine Faith. As James and Lily walked home with groceries, he told her that the church was in debt and about to foreclose. She asked if his idea of fixing the situation was calling her rich daddy. James replied no and that it was an opportunity for him to win the congregation over, and added that if he could get the church out of the jam they were in, they would start listening to him. Around the corner, there was a young child being reprimanded for something by his very mad father. James intervened and told the man to hit him under the condition that he wouldn’t hit the boy anymore, so while Lily consoled the young child, the out-of-control male told James he had a deal and knocked him unconscious with a punch to the face. In the church office, Veena put ice on James’s face and said that was what happened when the great white knight poked his nose where it didn’t belong. Delsey, Veena, and Hill spoke to James about how the bank would foreclose on Monday if a payment was not received before then. Hill said they got $150 a week in the collection plate, and Delsey chimed in that they were behind on their payments one year, four months, and two weeks. They discussed that they were always going to be in debt unless people were excited about church again. Clayton suggested they install a sports bar, and then James said they needed razzmatazz, which was music, so they would hold a concert and make a joyful noise until the Lord. They all discussed who they could have sing at their church event, and after James replied that he could contact some people he knew from L.A., Veena responded sarcastically that she just loved the Sheboygan Mary Rainbow singers. She told James to leave the booking and the music to her, and then Hill said he might know somebody at the bank who could help them. Hill and James went to see Martin to get an extension on their loan (little did they know, Martin already had plans to shut the church down permanently and would never give them the extension no matter what). Hill picked up on it and called Martin out on the land, asking if Martin had another buyer who wanted to put up another pawnshop or liquor store, which meant Martin was selling out his own community. Martin argued that public housing gave people a roof over their head, confirming that he was using the church land to make money. Hill commented that it was going to create more crime and despair in the neighborhood, but Martin replied that it was actually going to create more jobs and inject much-needed capital into the community. James spoke up and told Martin that churches gave people a reason to look up and think of somebody beside himself or herself, because who wanted to live in a community where everybody thought about himself or herself. Martin still wouldn’t budge, and the moment Hill and James left the office, Martin called E-Zee and told him that he needed him and his boys for another special eviction job. E-zee said he didn’t work for Martin anymore, and so Martin threatened E-zee that he made him and could break him and asked E-zee if he wanted the police to show up at his “recording studios.” Martin told E-zee he needed the church on Ashby and then hung up the phone. Emma called Carson and told her that she couldn’t handle the Georgia heat and had to get out of there because she lived in the hood now. Emma added that she was fifteen and her options were limited, and once she and Carson finished their conversation, Willy asked Emma if she thought they would save the church. She replied she hoped not because she wanted to go back to California. Willy told Emma that wasn’t a nice thing for her to say because if they lost the church, she still had a home to go to but they didn’t. Willy said there was a bus depot within walking distance where she could hop on a bus and leave anytime she wanted, but as long as Emma was there he was happy to be her friend. He gave her some of his mom’s original songs to give to James. Emma read the first title “God Happens,” and told Willy she saw a bumper sticker in his future. He handed her a lollipop and said he saw a cavity in her future. Later on, when James asked Emma where her mom was, she replied jokingly that Lily took Cooper back to L.A. James had a conversation with Emma and told her that he was proud of her for sticking it out with him. Emma wouldn’t accept a hug from her dad, so he left. At the office, James and Veena used the two phones to try and recruit people for the concert. Everybody kept hanging up on them and didn’t want to help. Veena had to explain to one person that it wasn’t a murder, it was involuntary manslaughter that happened at the church and they didn’t need to be afraid to help. Another person wanted to be paid, but James told them that it was a benefit concert, which was fundraising for the church. James decided to meet up with E-zee Eight, but on the way to the address on the card, he found a young boy with a busted chain on his LeMans bicycle. James fixed the bike easily, but the boy walked away with the bike (not riding it) without thanking James. As James walked into the bar where E-zee was drinking and hanging out with some friends, they addressed James as Snowman. James said he used to beat all the brothers in his seminary classes at pool, so E-zee stood up and told James to try to beat this brother and suggested they played a dollar a ball to make things interesting. James raised the stakes saying if he won, E-zee would do James a favor. He explained that the church was putting on a concert to pay off the bank and he needed E-zee to help get some famous acts to appear. E-zee said when he won…James had to move back to California. E-zee added that he and God had their differences and that was his problem with the church. The two men played pool, and James cleared most of the balls. E-zee held onto the pool table and wouldn’t move out of the way at one point, so James bent around him to make a shot and clear another ball.After James won that game, he suggested two out of three. When he won those, he said they could make it four out of seven, E-zee just accepted his loss. James invited E-zee to dinner at his place that night (with a “Witness For The Prosecution,” sign in the background hanging on the bar wall). Outside the apartment, Clayton tried to run off E-zee but he was told that James invited him to dinner.After dinner, the kids were sent off to bed, and E-zee told James and Lily that he thought a man would work hard to get away from the place like the one they moved to, not end up there. James replied that the Lord led them where they needed to be and they tried to follow. He said they needed to raise $10,000 to hold them over. E-zee gave James some advice to accept only cash at the gate and save the credit card fees, and he would handle the security at no charge. James and E-zee shook hands, and E-zee left telling Lily it was a nice dinner but most folks around there didn’t make mac and cheese with Brie cheese. E-zee’s boys were waiting for him outside and picked him up in their car. The next day, with no acts scheduled for Saturday night yet, Clayton barged into the church office and said that the good news was they had hot water, but the bad news was the air-conditioner was broken. James told everybody he thought he had a deal with a record producer, and Veena said there were no record producers in that area. Delsey gave James a message, which was from BeBe Winans telling them he heard about the benefit concert and was interested in performing there along with his sister CeCe. Everybody was freaking out at the mention of those names while James wasn’t familiar with the brother sister duo. Veena said it was a miracle, and Clayton chimed in that was a great thing because BeBe and CeCe were Grammy Award-winning, platinum-selling Gospel artists. At home, James and Cooper worked on flyers for the concert and Emma interrupted saying she needed to talk to her dad. Emma tried to tell James that she missed her friends and didn’t like the heat of Georgia with no air-conditioning. He tried to tell her that things would get better. Lily came in the door and saw the flyers and said now that was settled, James could work on his daughter and make her happy. James suggested that Emma take Willy to go put up the flyers in the hood. Emma left reluctantly to do what her dad asked. Lily followed Emma out of the house to make sure she was okay since it was a fairly run down area. As Clayton fixed Veena’s piano, he told her that the word on the street was James had asked E-zee for help and they had dinner together. Hill appeared and told Veena to not interfere because E-zee’s connections with the music industry would save their church even though E-zee was a shady character in the hood. Hill added that it wasn’t for them to decide who God used to do His work or how. Valley girl Emma complained about her dad trying to prove a point by moving them to Georgia from California, so Willy told her that he never had a dad because he died before Willy was born and his brother was killed in the Army. Willy told Emma to hang the flyers until her dad was done proving his point, which might take ten or twelve years. Everybody spent their time cleaning up the church, putting up posters, and handing out flyers in preparation for the big event. Shady banker Martin went to the church office to have a pow-wow with James. James asked what he could do for Martin, and Martin told him it was what he could do for James and pulled four tickets from his jacket pocket to wherever James and his family wanted to go, plus enough cash to start over when they got there. Martin started walking to the door as though James was going to accept the bribe, but he stopped when James said that now he knew what happened to the pastor before him, who took that same deal and went to Hawaii. Martin turned around and said James didn’t want to be there anymore than the people wanted him there, and it was in the best interest of everybody if the church cashed in. James responded that he had been sure of nothing in his life until that moment and thanked Martin for that, and then he asked how much they were paying Martin to offer James the deal. Martin asked if James wanted more money, and James replied no, he was curious about what a man’s soul went for these days and handed Martin the money back. Martin took the money and told James that the next time he saw him, it was going to be with the sheriff, and then said good day to BrotherWhite. Meanwhile, back in California Thad reminded Kingman that they sent James to their sister church in Georgia to be the pastor there, but Kingman replied that was only temporary. Thad told Kingman that the church James was pastoring was about to close, so Kingman responded for Thad to go to Georgia and if James showed any promise, then Kingman wanted Thad to bring James back to California to work at the mega church again. Bank employee Martin paid E-zee a visit at the pool hall bar, telling E-zee he was too at ease when his world was about to crumble down around him. E-zee told Martin to relax because he helped the church book the talent for the show in order to guarantee they would raise $10,000 in cash. As Martin was getting irritated that E-zee did that, E-zee explained that he was the one handling security that night at the ticket booth and he planned for the money to end up in the wrong hands. Martin called him a bona fide genius, and E-zee gave Martin a free drink from the bar. Delsey came by the apartment and dropped off some files for James. Lily had her Sunday dress out on the couch and called to Delsey from another room to come in. Delsey put the folders down and was dancing around holding the dress up to her. Lily came into the room and asked Delsey if she wanted to try the dress on. James came looking for Emma, and Lily said she hadn’t seen her since that afternoon and she was probably out in the hood somewhere with Willy. James then left to go pick up the tickets at the printer. Delsey stayed behind and tried on Lily’s dress, and Lily gave her a makeover sharing her makeup. Lily told Delsey she was beautiful and that nothing was more beautiful on a woman than self-confidence, and Maybelline hadn’t bottled that yet. On the evening of the big concert, Veena was missing in action and Clayton couldn’t believe that Delsey was Delsey because she had on Lily’s dress and was wearing makeup and he thought she was beautiful. California Thad showed up, and then BeBe Winans also appeared and introduced himself. Everybody seemed to act goofy around BeBe, except for James who held it together and helped everybody through his or her unusual behavior of meeting a celebrity (and equal to all of GOD’s children). BeBe announced that CeCe had to cancel because she came down with a bad case of bronchitis. Veena came into the room and in front of BeBe, lectured James that he had a low-life thug handling the money out front E-zee was the strongman of the bank manager Martin. She wondered how James could be so naïve, and Clayton chimed in that just because James had E-zee over for dinner didn’t mean he didn’t sucker James and James needed to find the money before it was too late. In the midst of all of that, Lily ran into the room and gave James a note telling him that Emma ran away. Veena and James went to the office, where E-zee and his boys had the money. Veena said that Emma and Willy ran off together in the streets and the boys joked they were going to get married. Veena told E-zee to go find them and she knew he could do it, and she was firm that he better find her son. E-Zee made one phone call to a bunch of his homeboys on a party line (Amber Alert system) and told everybody the description of Emma, her age and eye/skin color because she was missing. Out of the nine people on the line, nobody saw anything on their street corner, then one white guy told E-zee that he found Emma and Willy at the bus depot and James ad Clayton went to go get them. As soon as Veena walked out the door behind James, E-zee told his boys to lock the door because they weren’t finished with the money and didn’t want to be caught unexpectedly again. Veena went on stage to introduce BeBe, telling them that her husband preached there for many years until he died and it was taking a lot to keep the church going but it was important to the community. E-zee’s associate watched over the kids until Clayton and James arrived and wouldn’t let them leave on a bus. Clayton told Willy that his mother was going to skin him alive, and Willy replied that he hadn’t planned to go anywhere and was just trying to escort Emma to the bus station (like a knight in shining armor). After Willy and Clayton went to sit in the truck, James told Emma they could discuss her problem later but she screamed at him when was later, when he got a promotion, got to be a pastor at a megachurch, or did they all have to wait until he get his own pair of solid gold angel wings. Emma started crying and asked when he was ever going to be happy enough because James told her that he moved his family to Georgia so they could all be happy. She started asking her dad the question game Carson in L.A. played with Emma to make her feel better. James replied that his favorite color was green and his favorite food was cheeseburgers. He couldn’t answer his happy place because he said he was waiting for things that hadn’t happened yet before he could be happy, so he didn’t hold any happy memories in his head. James then told Emma that wasn’t true because he remembered the day he married Lily, and that when he looked into her eyes he saw his daughter and son. He remembered thinking that a family with his wife and kids would do for him and that was what he always wanted. Emma told James that since they were all there together, he no longer had to wait to be happy and he could start being that way at that moment. Willy arrived at the church and gave his mom a hug, and Emma also arrived and gave her mom a hug while BeBe sang his song with lyrics “I believe that love conquers all. Answers when you call. I believe, yes I do…” to the crowd with the choir. In the office, E-zee was contemplating on whether or not he wanted to take the briefcase of real money as previously planned with shady Martin. He opened up the preacher’s desk drawer and saw “Kenny 1994,” inscription carved into the wood that triggered a memory. As he traced the outline of the name with his finger, James appeared and asked E-zee if his name was Kenny. E-zee (Kenny) explained that he used to sit on the floor playing with his toys while his dad the pastor sat at that desk. He spent a lot of time in the office waiting for his turn, but then E-zee’s dad died, overworked and underpaid. E-zee said he never got his turn and that was how God paid his family back. James said that E-zee got mad at God and left Veena to raise Willy by herself. E-zee stood up and said that his mom told Willy his brother E-zee was dead like he was better off not knowing E-zee. E-zee said he was trying, but that neighborhood would only ever see him as E-zee Eight. James asked E-zee if he was just going to keep running because it was easy, and then he picked up the briefcase (that might have counterfeit money in it) and left the room with E-zee standing behind the desk silently. James told Kenny that sometimes you don’t get two out of three chances. James gave the briefcase to Hill, and Hill replied they would have to pry it from his cold, dead fingers meaning that was the church’s lifeline and he would fight to the death to make sure the payment made it to the bank in time. Hill informed James they didn’t have a second act and BeBe was finished his singing. Hill was afraid the people would start a riot. Thad asked if somebody was going to get punched, and Deacon Hill replied he was going to punch Thad because Thad was on his last nerve. James was sent onstage after BeBe and he told the crowd that CeCe was ill and had to cancel but they had a voice from their own neighborhood and the Lord blessed this young girl because she sang like an angel. He introduced Nina Maharez. As Nina sang, E-zee came into the room and started singing the song with Nina and the church choir to a faster tempo and everybody in the crowd stood up and cheered and sang along. After the concert and everybody left, Thad had a private conversation with James and told him that it was Thad’s idea to send James to Georgia to get him out of Kingman’s hair and it was temporary and now that James blossomed and was so successful by organizing the event with their sister church, Kingman wanted James back and was now moved way up on the list to preach instead of just a Sunday School teacher. James was shocked that the megachurch uprooted him and his family as an experiment and disciplinary action and he wasn’t too sure he wanted to be part of the circus act anymore. Later on at home, James told Lily that they were going back to California. She told him that they came to Georgia to help people and that Emma probably wasn’t going to be happy about moving now. The next day, Delsey gave James his appointments for the day and then he told her that he didn’t know if he would get to them because he and his family had decided to return to L.A. Delsey mumbled under her breath what Lily told her about being more confident in her speech and stood up and screamed at James “Look here, white boy!” and asked if any of them affected James’s life because she felt beautiful and she wasn’t the only one around there who felt that way because of James and his family’s presence. Later on, Hill told James the story about the rich businessman and the fisherman where the rich man thought he had a better life than the fisherman because he had more money and material things, but the fisherman replied that he enjoyed his life the way it was. Hill went on to say that there was a reason James was in Georgia and he didn’t think it would be a good thing if James left Georgia at that moment. James said that the church would survive without him, but Hill replied that he wasn’t talking about the church. James questioned where everybody was since it was time for church, and Hill replied they were outside waiting for their pastor to greet them like they did every Sunday. James opened the door to see a very long line of people attending church that morning that had not been in church prior to the concert. Laneer Dawson, his wife, Gloria, and his son Mark, showed up and Laneer shook hands with James and apologized to him for punching him the other day because he wasn’t himself when he had been drinking. Laneer thanked James for being a bigger man than he himself was and James welcomed them into the church with open arms. Tanika Jones had her son, Darnell, thank the pastor for fixing Darnell’s bike. The others followed, including Willy and E-zee, who was now going by Kenny Shaw and not E-zee Eight. Kenny said that he was thinking about going to church again and also changing his lifestyle and going to college to get an MBA and be a businessman. James went to the pulpit and thanked the audience for making his dream of being a pastor come true. He went on to say that God’s voice wasn’t always majestic and thunderous, and sometimes GOD whispered to us and we would miss it if we weren’t paying attention. He said he heard the voice of God the night before with Nina singing last night, when he was talking to his daughter, and in every corner of that room. James looked over at Cooper with thumbs-up and Lily and Emma as they all smiled, and then he told the churchgoers that if they would have him, he would remain there as pastor of that church and not move to California with his family. Everybody clapped and cheered around the congregation, and afterwards Lily told James she had no regrets that she married Reverend James White and not a senator. She kissed her husband as Veena came and sat down next to them and told them that the public display of affection wasn’t bad. James told Veena that if another lost soul like E-zee Eight came along again, he would just have to invite him or her to dinner too. On the movie cover art, the Dove Foundation added, “Funny…yet meaningful.” Dove Foundation’s seal of approval for ages and gave the film 5 doves.