'God's Army' kick-started LDS 'genre'

Since the Mormon movie movement was kick-started three years ago by Richard Dutcher's impressive — and let's say it, surprising — one-two punch, "God's Army" and "Brigham City," it's caused much more than a snowball effect. It's an avalanche.

The number of films about Mormons by Mormon filmmakers has grown to several a year — and this year, most of them are bunched together over the next couple of months. That's either good news or bad news, depending on your perspective.

It's always good news when independent filmmakers manage to get their pictures on the big screen. Many independents still never quite get that far.

But there's also the danger of these films canceling each other out. The audience simply may not be big enough to support so many all at once or in tandem, especially since they'll be in competition with Hollywood's serious-minded, end-of-the-year Oscar-contenders.

Then there's the issue of quality. So far, the law of diminishing returns has been in effect. If none of the upcoming films are any better than the majority that have followed Dutcher's, this entire genre . . . if that's the word . . . could be in trouble.

And those who indiscriminately heap praise and support on all of these movies do the filmmakers no favors. What's the incentive to improve if all you hear is that your work is great? Hence, "Singles Ward" is followed by "The RM." And soon, "Home Teachers." And next year, "Church Ball." These aren't movies; they're road shows with money.

But all of this is subjective, of course. One man's "Citizen Kane" is another man's "Caddyshack."

Which makes me wonder what Dutcher might do next.

It's a shame his biographical film of Joseph Smith fell apart, but he apparently has a couple of scripts ready to go, and he's on the verge of making a third film fairly quickly. Hopefully, the Joseph Smith project will be resurrected down the road.

When Dutcher started "God's Army" in 1999, he called me from Los Angeles to introduce himself and tell me what he was up to. He got my attention because I have a strong interest in Mormon characters in motion pictures.

The idea that we might soon see a movie to counteract such derisive Hollywood depictions of Mormons as the hypocritical FBI boss in "Donnie Brasco" or the naive twit police detective in "Goodbye Lover" (or subsequent shady characters in "One Night at McCool's" and "Ocean's 11") filled me with hope.

But also with dread.