It’s Official: Rob Reiner’s Anti-Trump ‘God & Country’ Bombs
Far-Left documentary attacking 'Christian Nationalists' can't draw a crowd
Christian Nationalists are the new White Supremacists.
The former is how the press and the Left, but we repeat ourselves, target right-leaning voters supporting President Donald Trump.
The Ruthless Variety Program mocks the press’ efforts in the podcast’s latest episode.
The so-called group is the focus of “God & Country,” a new documentary produced by rabid anti-Trump filmmaker Rob Reiner. Here’s the film’s official synopsis, courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes.
GOD & COUNTRY looks at the implications of Christian Nationalism and how it distorts not only our constitutional republic, but Christianity itself. Featuring prominent Christian thought leaders, GOD & COUNTRY asks this question: What happens when a faith built on love, sacrifice, and forgiveness grows political tentacles, conflating power, money, and belief into hyper-nationalism?
Reiner’s film earned oodles of free publicity via the press, little of it challenging the film’s thesis. Rolling Stone. The New York Times. The Washington Post. Newsweek CNN. Axios. NPR.
That’s the kind of marketing muscle most documentary filmmakers would love. Critics raved about the film, too, giving in a robust 92 percent “fresh” rating at RottenTomatoes.com.
All of the above didn’t translate to box office glory.
The film, which opened in 85 theaters nationwide Feb. 16, earned just $38K in its opening frame. The left-leaning Wikipedia dubbed those numbers “disappointing.”
The far-Left Deadline.com desperately spun the results, letting the film’s distributor frame the poor numbers in the best light possible.
Overall gross was hampered by lower-than-average ticket prices in rural and suburban areas of the country, as well as limited screening schedules, Oscilloscope noted, saying: “God & Country has been met with an unbelievable amount of support from churches and religious organizations across the country that are keen to spread the film’s message. We expect group sales and buyouts to surge as word-of-mouth takes hold and we head deeper in the 2024 general election. In our minds, this was more an opening salvo than an opening weekend.”
So where’s the surge?
‘God & Country’ Needs a Box Office Miracle
The film failed to crack the top 36 box office slots on Box Office Mojo last weekend.
The 36th film on that list, “Ennio,” earned $3,763 over the weekend. That means either “God & Country” earned even less, or the studio didn’t submit numbers to sites like Box Office Mojo or The-Numbers.com.
That’s never a good sign.
“God & Country’s” current box office haul after two weeks in theaters and copious press coverage? $60K.
The movie also doesn’t have enough audience reviews at Rotten Tomatoes to give it a score, suggesting very few people watched it over the last two weeks.
Film critics may have lapped up the film’s message, but The Christian Post offered a dramatically different take on the film.
The premise of the film is schizophrenic, demonizing Christians with inflammatory insinuations that invoke the Third Reich, while at the same time deriding them for having a persecution complex because they fear a growing cultural hostility…By stringing together disjointed, out-of-context clips that lump together John MacArthur and Billy Graham with obvious charlatans and screeching fringe preachers, the filmmakers reveal either their profound ignorance or their cynical desire to assign the pejorative Christian nationalist label as widely as possible.
Good review, and at least your living in the land of reality when it comes to analyzing this production. I might not agree with your conservative views of religion but appreciate your candid review of this film.
“Even when its concerns are justified, such a project tends to alienate rather than entice, and those who are inclined to agree with its points will come away feeling that their worldview has been reinforced, while the viewers who are arguably most in need of seeing it will remain unaware of it or dismiss it as propaganda. . . . ” Matt Zoller Seitz, Ebert Digital LLC, Reviews
He is right, and as both a documentary film maker [i also worked in the feature and TV film end of production] for over 45 years, this thing looks like a flop, and is so acknowledged by the honest and independent thinkers. As an actual historical and geo-political analyst, I think Reiner gets a lot wrong.
The role that Christianity played in the forming of our republic is the most mis-understood bit of history there is. The conservatives, as well as those on the radical, stupid left [such are not liberals by the way, to call them such is an abuse of language…] do not have a clue about any of this. As constitutional liberal, like our founding fathers, I’m doing my best to correct this situation, but running into a lot of resistance from both left and right.
I’ll leave you with this thought, and its in context, look it up,
“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
~Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Horatio Spofford, 1814
Sounds like the ‘right’ is scared s***less of this film – thus the attempt to downplay. This article alone will raise attendance. Thanks, fascists!
The film made $60K in its theatrical run. That’s … not good.
More people read this article than have seen the movie. Brilliant
DANG! You beat me to that response.
A Meathead (read Leftist) never learns…and Reiner is the meatiest of them all.
1. Using the numbers from the article, $60,000 at 85 theaters over two weeks pencils out to about $50 per theater per day. At
two showings per day, and even with very cheap ticket prices, that means roughly FIVE butts in seats for each showing. That is not disappointing; it’s nonexistent.
2. Who did Reiner think was the audience for this? Christians won’t go because his reputation precedes him with that demographic. Ditto conservatives. And Progressives won’t go because the title is triggering. Did he think he was going to make money on merchandising? Oh well, it’s a documentary, so it didn’t cost much to make. Probably kept a lot of unpaid interns busy looking for films clips of Tammy Faye Baker or Father Coughlin.
3. Kudos to the Christian Post. Exactly right twice in one short paragraph. A. Demonizing Christians and then accusing them of being delusional about feeling demonized. B. “…cynical desire to assign the pejorative Christian nationalist label as widely as possible.” Bingo. And expect it to go on through election day.
Rob Reiner has continued to live up to his nickname ” Meathead” !!!
Watch the new anime movie Demon Slayer instead. It’s good AND shows how US comics and animators should tell stories. The Japanese ignores US woke activists and do their own thing.
Rob Reiner needs to move to Cuba, since he’s the real danger to America.
Don’t forget Michael Moore & Alec Baldwin.
Can he take embittered, exhausted, now creatively barren Maine douchebag Stephen King with him, please?