Crackerjack
Last Tuesday, the movie I’ve been involved with for the last few years was released to the public. Crackerjack, starring Wes Murphy and Bethany Anne Lind and narrated by Jeff Foxworthy can now be streamed from any of the major movie outlets including Amazon, Apple, Comcast, DirectTV, etc.
You wonder “How did Regi Campbell get involved in a movie?”
Mentoring . . . plain and simple.
The story of C.J. (Bill “Crackerjack” Bailey) is in many ways like the stories of the guys who come into my mentoring group each year. Trying to figure life out. Never been loved well. For C.J., his path to significance is softball . . . for most of my mentees, it’s career. C.J. is trying to find love in all the wrong places. He knows no other way of life. He dreams big, not knowing how the dots between his dreams and current reality will ever connect.
C.J.’s live-in girlfriend wants to be married but C.J. won’t let himself go ‘all-in’. Marriage is the sledgehammer God often uses to get our attention and it’s THE big deal for C.J. He seems destined to live his life in duplicity, splitting his time and his loyalty between his profession (softball), his girl, his buddies, and his beer.
But he runs into Paul, a tough but gentle African-American guy with a checkered but redeemed past. Paul sees right through C.J.’s “B.S.” He loves on him, but carefully. He’s patient, waiting for C.J. to run out of rope. And sure enough, not through anything his mentor does, C.J.’s life ‘blows up’. When he surrenders to the love of His Heavenly Father, guess who’s there to celebrate? Paul, his mentor and friend.
Paul has walked this path. He’s not going to insert himself into C.J.’s life . . . never has and never will. This is one of the hardest things a mentor does . . . standing back and watching a young guy you love screw up and make his mess even worse. You want to grab him, shake him, drill a hole in his head and pour in some common sense. But you can’t. He has to get there on his own. He has to surrender to Love and let his Father lead him.
Crackerjack is a PG-13 comedy with a few bad words and an adult theme or two. It is not the “Christian movie” that ends with a preacher in the pulpit and an altar call. It pokes fun at “Church-ianity” (one of the softball teams features a ‘bobble-head Jesus’ as a mascot who gets into a fist fight). So be prepared for some edgy ‘irreligious’, ‘locker-room’ kind of humor.
But you’ll also see what the church can and should be . . . what real community is and how authentic Christian brotherhood is one of God’s favorite tools for redemption.
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Responses (11)
Regi,
I’m having trouble and I hope you can help me understand, why you would ever want to be part of a project that is dishonorable to Our Lord and Savior. You mentioned Crackerjack has a “few bad words” and an “adult theme or two” a well as “poking fun at Christianity” Is that what you perceive our relationship with Christ to be all about? We live in a world full of those same pieces of content in other movies and even documentaries. After subscribing to and reading your posts, I would have expected more from a man who claims to love the same Lord that is NOT honored and revered in your project. Thank you for reading this Regi, and blessings to you, Dan
Dan, thanks for your comment. A question for you . . . did you watch the movie? I said the movie ‘pokes fun at CHURCH-IANITY’ not Christianity. Stream the movie and then let’s continue the conversation.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to watch the movie knowing the content beforehand. I will comment about Jesus being a bobble head mascot though. We should not be making fun of anybody let alone our Lord and Savior. He’s so much more than a “mascot” in my life and He should be in all of our lives. It’s easy to get caught up in the churchianity this world sees from fellow Christians. It’s time to stop being tolerable of worldy humor.For the commited believers we should stay away from this type of humor.
I understand. It’s actually an evangelism movie, using comedy to get past ‘outsiders’ built-in resistance to the self-righteousness and judgmental spirit of a lot of churches and church people. It’s in no way sacrilegious nor blasphemous. But it’s not for everyone and I truly understand. I hope you’ll stick with the blog. Are you leading a mentoring group?
Hey Regi! Let’s talk off the public blog. Email me and we can continue with your questions. Blessings, Dan
Let us never forget that, as Christians, we have placed our faith in an R rated God from an R rated book. If you think that the Bible is “safe”, think again.
God is about our motives. An R rated movie to exploit women or glorify sin is sin. A movie with a Gospel motive, motivated by Love and intended for redemption is different, no matter how Hollywood rates it. Thanks for your comment Adam.
I was blown away by the movie and can’t wait to show it to friends who I think would connect with the message of Christ in this form. I felt challenged by the film, but came away from it with a greater appreciation of my Savior – of course he was courageous and dangerous and didn’t conform to the expectations of this world. He is so much more than we can perceive, and I’m thankful for how this movie showed me that.
Thanks for your comment James. I’ll see to it the writer/director reads your encouraging words.
Wow, Regi. I didn’t know you were in the mix on this. Three of my buddies from high school wrote the screenplay (Kyle, Lance, and Hudson). I’ve been looking forward to watching it for a while.
Yeah, I’d known Bryan Coley for a long time and got involved with him on this project a while back. I’d love your thoughts after you view it.