Don Verdean Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Don Verdean Blu-ray Movie Review

Will you dig it?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 3, 2016

Religious charlatans of various stripes and qualities have long been a staple of various media, though the public’s reaction to these works hasn’t always been kind. For every Elmer Gantry, a film which was more or less universally acclaimed and which brought home several Oscars, there’s an Anyone Can Whistle, one of the more infamous flops in Broadway history despite the blandishments offered by such talents as Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury. Don Verdean will probably come down more on the Anyone Can Whistle side of things (so to speak) for most viewers, again despite the blandishments offered by such talents as (married) co-writers Jared and Jerusha Hess, the couple responsible (at least in part) for such hits as Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. Don Verdean’s cast is similarly promising and includes such (usually) dependable talents as Sam Rockwell, Will Forte, and Amy Ryan. But something doesn’t quite gel this time around, despite a rather interesting and even provocative premise that casts Rockwell as the titular Verdean, a so-called “Biblical archaeologist” who has made whatever career he’s managed to craft out of discovering lost treasures that have some (perhaps tangential) connection to scripture. The film would seem to have ample territory to comedically explore, but the writing here offers very little laugh out loud humor and a rather surprisingly low quotient of even “wry smile” moments.

Things begin at least relatively promisingly with a funny “highlights reel” (which looks like old VHS tape) of Verdean’s “greatest hits” in the field of Biblical archaeology (one of which is finding "water from a rock", one of the salient plot points of Anyone Can Whistle). Those whose faith precludes laughing at the foibles of their own religion may find objectionable material right at the outset, for it’s obvious that the Hesses are going to offer a take no prisoners approach toward some of the silliness that often accompanies overly amped devout types. It’s at least worth mentioning that the Hesses have not been shy about discussing perceived "eccentricities" of their native Mormonism (full disclosure: I was born and raised in Salt Lake City as a non-Mormon, and so have a probably jaundiced frame of reference). What’s commendable about the Hesses, though, is that they don’t seem to be allowing their own faith (however they may choose to define it) to blind them to the sometimes ridiculous elements that tend to inform at least the fringes of many (most?) major religions, though again, those with sensitivities in this regard may well find elements of Don Verdean squirm inducing.

It turns out the “highlights reel” comes from a decade or so ago, and Verdean’s reputation has taken something of a tumble in the interim. He’s been reduced to being something of an itinerant huckster for his books and DVDs, which is where he’s first seen, along with his lovely assistant, Carol (Amy Ryan). A man at a meeting turns out to be an acolyte of a famous evangelist named Tony Lazarus (Danny McBride), a somewhat shady character himself who wants to fund Verdean’s future digs in the Holy Land. (The film was shot at least partly in Salt Lake City, and I had a little giggle of recognition that the location used for Lazarus’ building is the First Congregational Church on the corner of Foothill Drive and 21st South in Salt Lake City, which was almost literally in the backyard of the first house I lived in and which was in fact built while I was a little boy growing up in that neighborhood.) Verdean quickly alerts Lazarus that he has his sights set on his next “find”, a large pillar of sodium that he is convinced is Lot’s wife. He enlists the aid of an Israeli named Boaz (Jermaine Clement) to retrieve the object and have it shipped back to the United States ("where it belongs", according to Lazarus' wife), and things seems to be moving forward swimmingly.

The Hesses are already toying with the vagaries of evangelism, positing Verdean as a kind of well intentioned but none too bright schmuck (to utilize some non-Christian verbiage), and Lazarus as one of those “entrepreneurial” ministers who’s out to grow his congregation at any cost (as long as that cost is paid by the parishioners). The fact that Lazarus’ history is clouded, as is that of his wife Joylinda (played by Leslie Bibb), is a salient plot point, and another minister who enters the fray, Pastor Fontaine (Will Forte), is described as an ex-Satanist whose occult sway over his “flock” is usurping Lazarus’ reputation as Utah’s leading (non-Mormon?) religious leader.

Verdean’s own moral shades of gray start to be revealed when he and Carol travel to the Holy Land to hopefully find the skull of Goliath with some aid from Boaz. When the expedition doesn’t go as planned, Verdean takes matters into his own hands to try to forge success himself. That then leads to a somewhat ill fitting third act after Boaz learns of Verdean’s subterfuges and uses them to realize his dream of coming to America and living the high life. A tacked on search for the Holy Grail caps the film with a strange sequence that plays like a rough draft (very rough, some might argue) of the iconic opening scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Don Verdean has tons of material at its beck and call, and a game and often quite winning cast, but it never quite seems to know what to do with everything. The twee quality that tended to split some audiences with regard to Napoleon Dynamite is perhaps even more on display here. (I have some friends who consider Napoleon Dynamite one of the greatest films of its era, and others who think it’s absolute dreck.) If you’re attuned to the peculiar proclivities of the Hesses, Don Verdean may strike your funny bone, at least in dribs and drabs. Others may want to, like Verdean himself, keep digging for something else.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf had a perhaps slightly more positive take on Don Verdean when it was released theatrically. You can read his thoughts here.

Don Verdean Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Don Verdean is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 (with the exception of the "old school" video reel which starts the film—see screenshot 19). This is a solid but slightly middling looking video presentation, one which is very subtly but unmistakably color graded throughout much of the running time, often offering a slight yellowish tint to many scenes. A couple of other sequences have an odd blue-purple tint (see screenshot 5) and one brief sequence set in a bar is riddled with magenta (see screenshot 17). Detail is decent if never really stunning throughout most of the film, though when Hess indulges in some close-ups, things pop at least relatively better. Contrast is a little anemic, something that when combined with the yellowish ambience, can deplete fine detail levels. The opening "video" is riddled with (intentional) anomalies, but aside from that purposeful issue, there are no problems with image instability or compression problems.

Don Verdean Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Don Verdean's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is quite enjoyable, and as the sound design featurette included on this Blu-ray documents, there was some attention paid to providing different ambiences for the sequences set in Utah and (supposedly) in the Holy Land. Ambient environmental effects are probably more pronounced in the Holy Land sequences, though truth be told, this is not an incredibly immersive track, instead offering discrete channelization at times that helps to provide a subtle but effective surround environment. Dialogue is cleanly presented and is well prioritized. Fidelity is excellent, though dynamic range rather narrow.

Don Verdean Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Jared Hess is a kind of hit or miss affair, some of which is due to Hess' own self-confessed tendency to get lost in the movie and stop talking about anything (there are some long stretches of silence as a result).


• Digging In: Behind the Scenes of Don Verdean (1080p; 2:27) is a brief but fun piece that includes candid shots and some short interviews.


• Behind the Sounds (1080p; 9:05) is an interesting featurette concentrating on sound design.

Don Verdean Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that despite my somewhat cynical attitude toward Utah, Utahns (including that numerous subset, the Mormons) are among the nicest people you can ever hope to meet. That very niceness may undercut Don Verdean, for the film plies a kind of "beige" territory where a more ruthless approach toward its morally questionable characters may have paid more consistent comedic dividends. I really wanted to like Don Verdean, but it never really tickled my funny bone in any significant way. Those who are fans of the Hesses may well find more humor here than I personally did, and for those folks, this release offers decent video and very good audio.