Mercy Streets

It's smarter than the average evangelical Christian movie, though that's not saying a whole lot, merely that Mercy Streets actually places the narrative before the proselytizing, and doesn't go out of its way to bash Jews like, say, The Judas Project. David White, a veteran of Christian TV and film, plays twins: John, the bad one, is an ex-con with abandonment issues; while Jeremiah, the good one, is an aspiring priest. Both, however, sound like Jay Leno, and look like a cross between Little Nicky and Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. When the delinquent John is released from prison into the care of dubious father figure Eric Roberts, whose character goes by the name of Rome (hmm, could this be a subtle anti-Catholic message?), he's quickly corralled into one last job, which, naturally, goes awry. In the resultant confusion, good-guy Jeremiah is kidnapped by Rome and his Catholic (uh-oh!) associate T.J. (multitattooed character actor Robert La Sardo, a.k.a. "that tattooed guy" in virtually every film that calls for such a character), while John takes over Jeremiah's life in an attempt to rip off the collection plate. Both brothers, who hate each other over a Long-Buried Childhood Trauma, come to learn very important life lessons while living in one another's shoes, thanks to the advice of priests played by ex-football star Lawrence Taylor and Stacy Keach, the latter seemingly impersonating Jack "Eraserhead" Nance as he offers the curiously banal metaphor "You're standing on the doorstep of the Hotel Forgiveness, but they don't allow baggage." There are occasional moments of creative inspiration, as when Roberts details the scam he's going to perpetrate by literally walking through the events, freezing time to illustrate his points; and the contemporary Christian soundtrack is actually listenable, rather than cloying. Still, the movie is not something you need to go out of your way to see, though it won't make you run kicking and screaming if you happen to find yourself in the theater where it's showing.