I'm In Love With A Church Girl (2013)
Average Rating: 2.7/10
Reviews Counted: 16
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 16
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 2.4/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 1,882
Movie Info
Cars. Good looks. Mansions. Money. Women. Miles Montego has it all. Including a past. He was king of the streets as a high-level drug trafficker, and although he has tried to move on, the DEA isn't convinced. Miles is still rolling with his old friends and colleagues, and the feds are certain he has not fully retired from his criminal past. When Miles meets Vanessa Leon, a woman who is different than every other woman he's met, he is drawn to her beauty and her faith. She is a "church girl" in
Cast
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Adrienne Bailon
Vanessa Leon -
Jeff "Ja Rule" Atkin...
Miles Montego -
Michael Madsen
Frank Harris -
T-Bone
Martin De LaFuente -
Toby Mac
T -
Stephen Baldwin
Jason McDaniels -
Vincent Pastore
Nicholas Halston -
Martin Kove
Terry Edgemond -
-
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All Critics (16) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (0) | Rotten (16)
Even having God on the production team can't save this 'Church Girl' from its heavy-handed sermonizing.
Top CriticThis overlong drama plays like a threefold infomercial: for Christianity, the cheesy resort chain Sandals and Jeff "Ja Rule" Atkins, the rapper-turned-actor playing drug kingpin Miles Montego.
A message film with the narrative sophistication of a recruiting pamphlet.
Suffers from the same ills as too many movies that preach to the choir: a laborious length, formulaic plot and dialogue and, disappointing for a film that stars a rapper, a stock score.
We're apparently supposed to root for these two to make it, although Vanessa is outlandishly jealous and pushy.
There is no reason a film with an agenda can't also be engaging or thought-provoking. But what we have here is not so much a movie as a blunt Sunday sermon.
You won't believe a second of it.
To call the acting amateurish does a disservice to hard-working amateurs everywhere.
Drug dealer's conversion story appeals to faith audiences.
For a religion started by a martyred egalitarian hippie who hung out with lepers and prostitutes and was executed by The Man, these supposed adherents sure seem obsessed with Earthly wealth. Bad movie, but a fascinating watch.
For myself and most folks expecting a movie, it is too transparent an infomercial for the church to move the mountain.
It egregiously lacks subtlety and too often resorts to excessive sermonizing.
Screenwriter Galley Molina based the film on his own experience, going from drug pusher to minister, but, for all that, this cliche-besotted film feels somehow synthetic in the extreme.
The creakiness of its storytelling and its unabashed preachiness betray its origins as a film designed to proselytize more than entertain. It fails on both levels.
Audience Reviews for I'm In Love With A Church Girl
Initial Reaction: Really?
Main Characters
Miles Montego: He's a businessman played by Jeff "Ja Rule" Atkins.
Vanessa Leon: She's that church girl played by Adrienne Bailon
Plot Summary
This film is about how Miles and Vanessa meet at some party, get really friendly, then go on a romantic journey over several months. Along the way, she tries to get him to accept God into his life.
But life isn't so good for Miles; the DEA thinks he and his friends are drug dealers - and they spend a lot of time trying to prove their case.
And God has a few plans for Miles that will really shake his life to the core.
SCORING
Main Characters
I know what they're going for - a true romantic flick where the couple really do fall in love with each other.
But I got bored after seeing them be nice to each other for the first hour or so - I was hoping some sort of interesting conflict would arise and test their love for each other. But that doesn't happen. SCORE: 2
Supporting Cast
Everyone else in the film is too nice and accommodating; it takes about an hour or more for a character to bring conflict into the movie - and by then, I just lost interest. I really didn't care if Miles' friends get busted or not. SCORE: 1
Plot
Need I say it? The conflict in the film for the first hour is lacking, so they had to drop in huge surprises that come out of nowhere in the second hour (someone gets involved in and accident, someone ends up with a deadly disease, she sees him with another woman.)
What's even worse is that these conflicts don't do much to the main story; they show up, then ten minutes later, they vanish, sending me back to the boring scenes with the two of them dating each other. SCORE: 1
Originality
This film tries to be different in showing how two people can fall in love with each other, but - you guess it - lack in intensity or conflict. SCORE: 2
Violence Factor
In order to boost the conflict, there is a stand off when one of Miles' friends gets involved in a physical confrontation with a bunch of strangers. I was hoping for something to come out of that, but ten minutes later, it passes by with no real effect on the main plot. SCORE: 1
Other Moral Issues
Watching this film makes me feel like I'm stuck at church on Sunday. All this preaching and quoting from the Bible really turns me off because I want to be entertained - not enlightened.
Besides, the main love story just goes on for far too long. I was just waiting for them to realize they were meant for each other, get hitched and get the film over with - instead of dragging it out for almost two hours. SCORE: 1
Final Score (out of 60): 8 % Score: 13.33%
They didn't need two hours to show me that he's in love with a church girl - they could've done this film in about forty minutes.
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- Vanessa Leon: God doesn't care about your past, He just wants you to come as you are...
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