'Best 2 Years' brings Mormon flicks full circle

It's been awhile since I've seen a so-called "Mormon-genre" movie that's impressed me. So it was a pleasure to sit through "The Best Two Years" and find it thoroughly enjoyable.

This is, what, the fourth year of LDS-themed movies? And out of a dozen over that time, maybe three or four are worth watching again.

Richard Dutcher's "God's Army" in 2000 was so successful and such a pleasant surprise that it was bound to open the floodgates, and following Dutcher's second film, "Brigham City," we began to see LDS movies in earnest, opening in Salt Lake theaters one after another.

Some have gone on to play in other areas of the country, some have fallen into the home-video chasm (where movies either make up their theatrical losses or drift amid the ridiculous array of movies that line rental-store shelves), and others have just faded away. And most have not been very — if at all — profitable.

In terms of quality, the bag has been even more mixed.

I know there are some LDS moviegoers who feel that any and every "Mormon movie" should be supported, whether it's good, bad or ugly. But it's my feeling that if you're going to spend $7 or $8 per ticket (plus concession expenses and — if you go to the Gateway Megaplex 12 — parking), the picture had better be at least as good as the one in the next auditorium.

Of course, these days, that's not saying a whole lot.

It wasn't too long after "God's Army" that we got "Brigham City," "The Other Side of Heaven," "The Singles Ward," "Charly," "Handcart," "The R.M.," "The Work and the Story," "Day of Defense," "The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey," "Pride & Prejudice," and, currently, "The Home Teachers." (I have deliberately left off this list the film "Out of Step," which strikes me more as a movie that simply has Mormon characters, rather than a Mormon-centric film. I would put the upcoming "Saints and Soldiers" in the same category.)

This is strictly my opinion, of course, but after the first three films, there began a downhill slide in terms of quality, and until "The Best Two Years," none has managed to reach the level that started it all.

In a way, we've come full circle. Like "God's Army, "The Best Two Years" is about young LDS missionaries "in the field."

"The Best Two Years" is based on a play that circulated throughout the region some 15 years ago, and the film has been written and directed by the playwright Scott S. Anderson.