By Elizabeth Bennett
'The Best Two Years' is easily the best two hours I have ever spent watching a Mormon movie.
And I''m a skeptic. I''ve written my opinion on Mormon genre film ad nauseum, so we don''t need to get into that again -- the important point here is that 'The Best Two Years' is smart, well-written, well-shot, well-edited and well-acted. Not brilliant, maybe, but the movie benefits hugely by using subtlety and avoiding pretension.
When was the last time you could say that about a Mormon movie? (The correct answer here is 'never.')
Written and directed by Scott S. Anderson, 'The Best Two Years' is based on his twenty-year old play 'The Best Two Years of My Life,' dealing with four missionaries sharing an apartment in Haarlem, Holland. Elder Rogers (K.C. Clyde) has lost his passion and enthusiasm for the work -- his testimony is shaky and his effort is minimal. His two roommates, Elders Van Pelt (Cameron Hopkins) and Johnson (David Nibley), can''t get along and can''t stop nagging him. With just a few months to go, Elder Rogers is assigned to train the greenest of greenies: Elder Calhoun (Kirby Heybourne), a na?ve, hard-working Oklahoman.
The result is a bit obvious, and quite a bit too easy, but that doesn''t detract from the quality of the film.
To Anderson''s credit, 'The Best Two Years' avoids the mistakes that plagued it''s predecessors. First, and most importantly, it has genuine humor -- even though 'The Best Two Years' is as much drama as comedy, there are real laughs inherent to the plot.
And the cast does an excellent job of finding balance between realism and idealism. As shown by Richard Dutcher''s 'God''s Army,' LDS audiences can be very sensitive to portrayals of mission-life; Anderson directs a movie-perfect vision of missionaries, but allows them to be human. The result is, for lack of a better word, likeable.
And who knew Heybourne could act? His character might be slightly over-the-top, but his earnestness as Elder Calhoun is endearing. However, 'The Best Two Years' is essentially an ensemble piece, where everyone contributes.
On the downside: sure could have done without the seminary-video montage sequence.
'The Best Two Years' is rated PG and opens tonight through Utah. Check local listings for theaters and show times.