OMFG! The Falls must be Mitt Romney’s worst nightmare, since the other one came true in November.
Two 20-year-old Mormon missionaries share a dorm room, where they sit around praying in their underwear. Technically “companions,” they spend their days “tracting” to win converts. As one jealously reminds the other after seeing him talking to a young woman, “You’re not supposed to leave your companion’s side.” It’s like an intense gay relationship, without the sex.
And then that distinction disappears!
Jon Garcia’s film will be too slow and restrained for some viewers, who can’t wait for Elder (RJ) Smith (Nick Ferrucci) and Elder (Chris) Merrill (Ben Farmer) to get it on. Commercial wisdom would indicate 10 to 15 minutes of teasing, with a few meaningful glances inserted along the way; then bam! They’re having the kind of sex that doesn’t produce little Mormons.
Garcia takes the high road. The first half of The Falls could be used as a training film for Latter Day Saints missionaries. It details a young man’s journey, including some information about his faith, and shows him adjusting to missionary life. It shows both triumphs and failures of evangelical work, even including forms of hostility missionaries may face—from being ambushed about their faith in a debate about polygamy to being called “faggots” by a nonbelieving redneck spoiling for a fight.
From there, things move surprisingly quickly to a scene where Rodney (Brian Allard), an Iraqi war vet they’ve been preaching to, can say, “I got these two queer, pot-smokin’ Mormons here in my living room!”
Once the genie is out of the bottle—or the closet—it’s obvious the guys won’t get any love from the church unless they go back to repressing their true natures. That creates more—if briefer—suspense than the buildup to their expressing their natures.
The lead actors display little charisma, which may be a conscious decision on the director’s part to draw the audience to them rather than the other way around.
Technical terms like “challenging” and “investigators” should be explained for the non-Mormons who will make up the bulk of the audience, since The Falls is unlikely to be received as well within the church as Book of Mormon.