I'm in Love with a Church Girl
FilmDistrict | Release Date: October 18, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
23
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
2
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanOct 17, 2013
The dialogue in places leans toward the banal, but a couple of plot twists help hold interest. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSteven BooneOct 25, 2013
Molina's story is worth telling. I suspect that, in this form, it will reach some of the at-risk youth who are clearly his target audience. But for myself and most folks expecting a movie, it is too transparent an infomercial for the church to move the mountain. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckOct 17, 2013
Glossier and more lavishly produced than most faith-based films, the film directed by Steve Race is ultimately undone by a relentless preachiness that gives it the feel of a two-hour sermon. Read full review
30
VarietyJoe LeydonOct 21, 2013
The road to hell is paved with well-intentioned clunkers like I’m in Love with a Church Girl, a strenuously sincere but tediously schematic and heavy-handed attempt at cinematic proselytizing for Christianity. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesAnnlee EllingsonOct 17, 2013
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. Content aside, Molina's testimony isn't good cinema either. Read full review
30
The New York TimesMiriam BaleOct 17, 2013
This is a message film with the narrative sophistication of a recruiting pamphlet. Read full review
30
The DissolveNathan RabinOct 17, 2013
As a film, it’s sappy, preachy, and sleepily paced, but it also makes walking in faith seem about as flavorful and appealing as a lettuce sandwich on white bread, slathered in mayo. Read full review
25
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreOct 29, 2013
It’s a film of limp police procedures — stake outs that aren’t really clandestine, generic prison scenes, interrogations by underlines that suggest the leading players weren’t available on set for the entire day. Read full review
25
New York PostSara StewartOct 17, 2013
This 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. Read full review
25
Washington PostStephanie MerryOct 17, 2013
The intentions for I’m in Love With a Church Girl may have been noble, but nearly every part of the delivery turns out to be flawed. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanOct 17, 2013
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. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesOct 23, 2013
I’m in Love With a Church Girl is not unambitious: It crams into its two hours terminal illness, money laundering, a DEA sting, clubbing, a prolonged coma, and lots of Bible study. But the action – punishingly turgid, spread-it-on-a-cracker cheesy – feels inauthentic, ginned up only to promote the film’s come-to-Jesus messaging, and to call the acting amateurish does a disservice to hard-working amateurs everywhere. Read full review
10
Village VoiceNick SchagerOct 15, 2013
It's hard to quibble with Steve Race's film on theological grounds, though in narrative and aesthetic terms, there's something unholy about its mixture of inane clichés, shallow music-video glossiness, and incessant preaching. Read full review
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