Sundance ‘15 Review: Jared Hess’ DON VERDEAN

For Don Verdean, director Jared Hess reunites with Sam Rockwell and Jemaine Clement, who both starred in Gentlemen Broncos, Hess’ last feature length effort which was not released nationally due to the abysmal critical reception it received. In the review I wrote for Broncos back in 2009, like many other critics, I cited that the film’s use of feces and vomit would likely turn audiences off, unaware that complaints like mine would end up turning the powers that be off to running the film nationally at all. While I liked it more than most, looking back, the director did abandon quality storytelling for gross-out humor and often overwhelming quirkiness. Hess dials back the zaniness in Don Verdean without losing his signature touches and provides a better stage for Rockwell and Clement, who gave great comedic performances in their last outing with the director but didn’t actually share any screen time.

Rockwell portrays the title character, Don Verdean, an archaeologist who spent years traveling the world in search of biblical artifacts that back up events depicted in The Bible. The story picks up a decade after the height of his fame, when the worn-down Verdean now travels around the US in his RV with his assistant, Carol (Amy Ryan), speaking to small crowds, peddling his old books and DVDs, and leaving any excavating to his contacts in Israel, Boaz (Clement) and Shem (Stelios Xanthos). Verdean gets the opportunity to once again chase after relics himself when an evangelical preacher named Tony Lazarus (Danny McBride), desperate to bring back followers to his dwindling congregation, offers to fund Verdean's operation. While the legitimacy of Verdean’s finds has always been uncertain, his latest discovery (a misshapen pillar of salt purported to be the remains of Lot’s wife) brings increased pressure from Lazarus to seek more significant artifacts and brings intense scrutiny from Lazarus’ rival — former satanist turned christian preacher, Pastor Fontaine (Will Forte). With his reputation, funding, and the very faith of believers on the line, Verdean takes desperate measures that lead him and his team down a slippery path.

While I don’t want to undersell the wonderful supporting cast, which along with Ryan, McBride, and Forte, also includes Leslie Bibb, who is a riot as Lazarus’ wife, the movie belongs to Rockwell and Clement. Even when the two characters are just on the phone with each other, with Clement speaking in bizarre Borat-esque accent, the back-and-forth between the two actors is uproarious. And when the characters begin working side by side, digging deeper problems for each other, the film really takes off, delivering a hilarious satire that riffs on religion and redemption. 

If Jared Hess is seeking his own redemption for Gentlemen Broncos and his quickly canceled Napoleon Dynamite animated series, I believe he has a good chance to earn it with Don Verdean. Is it an instant classic like his debut, Napoleon Dynamite, or as quotable as his follow up, Nacho Libre? No, not really — but time and repeat viewings could prove me wrong. What is clear, though, is Jared and his wife/writing partner Jerusha Hess still have a knack for creating memorable characters who are a joy to root for, even when those characters make horrible, horrible decisions. In fact, I am still very much rooting for this husband and wife moviemaking team, even if they too have made a couple of missteps along the way.

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