For the most part the Rotten Tomatoes score for a movie is a reasonably good heuristic for quality. In terms of my own tastes, if it scores really high on both critic and user rating it’s typically a solid film. There are of some biases of course. IMHO movies in the older canon have inflated RT ratings, movies dealing with social issues have inflated critic, but not user, ratings–and conversely movies that come down on the “wrong side” of a social issue (basically any Dave Chapelle piece) have artificially deflated critic ratings. Finally, starchy formulaic movies often have inflated user, but not critic, ratings.
These carve-outs notwithstanding, however, I’ve found that simply adding the critic and user scores together correlates pretty strongly with how good I think a movie is as long as there are enough ratings to give it a large enough sample size.
So I went ahead and looked up the RT scores for the different “Mormon cinema” works. I largely drew on this page. However, it omitted some of the really big heavy hitters that, while addressing Mormon themes, characters, and settings, are not traditionally considered to be part of “Mormon cinema,” (e.g. Angels in America and America Primeval) probably because they weren’t made by people with a Latter-day Saint background, or don’t have a genetic relationship to the regional Utah movement that can be traced to Dutcher’s earlier work. Nonetheless, they still address Mormon themes heavily enough that I’m including them. I’m not including movies that only have user ratings; they have to be well-known enough to have elicited at least some critic ratings. Not that some of these aren’t good (e.g. I’ve heard 17 Miracles is decent), but it’s just harder to compare.
So with that, below are Mormon cinema films rank-ordered according to this methodology.
It places New York Doll and God’s Army: States of Grace as the top Mormon-made films, which makes sense to me. States of Grace is a relatively unknown gem. I haven’t seen New York Doll, but it sounds like a very moving film, and I am putting it on my to-watch list. Angels in America is higher unsurprisingly, as it’s a darling of particular New York drama/cinephile types (and no, not every invocation of “New York types” is a Jew reference), and it is good, but I actually think States of Grace is better.
Of course my methodology completely breaks down with Under the Banner of Heaven (my earlier review here). I’m fine with Hollywoodization as long their admit that they are Hollywoodizing it (e.g. the producer of American Primeval), but I just can’t stomach it when they claim that they are being scrupulous with historical and cultural accuracy but have Brigham Young and Emma Smith conspiring to kill Joseph, a Stake President lauding Native American allyship in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and dozens of other lol moments. They somehow landed a couple A-listers, and that’s just about it.
The rest of the rank orderings generally make sense, although I’d place Brigham City higher, Big Love above The Best Two Years, and I have yet to see Wagon Master or Heretic (I hadn’t heard of Wagon Master before doing this); I also haven’t seen any of the lower-ranked ones, but I’m not inclined to spend the time to.
| Title | Year | Combined Score |
| Angels in America | 2003 | 182 |
| New York Doll | 2005 | 179 |
| God’s Army II: States of Grace | 2005 | 169 |
| Under the Banner of Heaven | 2022 | 169 |
| Wagon Master | 1950 | 167 |
| Heretic | 2024 | 167 |
| The Other Side of Heaven 2 | 2019 | 166 |
| The Best Two Years | 2003 | 165 |
| Big Love | 2006 | 162 |
| America Primeval | 2025 | 159 |
| Saratov Approach | 2013 | 154 |
| Brigham City | 2001 | 151 |
| Mobsters and Mormons | 2005 | 151 |
| Once I was a Beehive | 2015 | 149 |
| Believer | 2018 | 147 |
| Saints and Soldiers | 2003 | 141 |
| The R.M. | 2003 | 137 |
| 8: Mormon Proposition | 2010 | 137 |
| Freetown | 2015 | 126 |
| God’s Army | 2000 | 124 |
| The Singles Ward | 2002 | 123 |
| Pride and Prejudice a Latter-day Comedy | 2003 | 122 |
| Latter-days | 2004 | 122 |
| Paint Your Wagon | 1969 | 113 |
| Forever Strong | 2008 | 105 |
| The Other Side of Heaven | 2002 | 104 |
| The Work and the Glory | 2005 | 102 |
| The Legend of Johnny Lingo | 2003 | 85 |
| Secret lives of Mormon Wives | 2024 | 73 |
| Church Ball | 2006 | 56 |
| The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1 | 2003 | 39 |
Comments
11 responses to “What’s the Best Work in “Mormon Cinema”? The Rotten Tomatoes Verdict”
New York Doll is a absolutely delightful film, one of my favorites of movies generally not just Mormon ones. A number of years ago I even showed a potion of it to the EQ to highlight the importance of home teaching.
While I didn’t personally care for States of Grace, I can see why others like it, so that makes sense.
New York Doll is amazing. One of those films that could only happen when a filmmaker becomes the home teacher to a former glam rock bassist. It’s moving and amazingly spiritual. The world is a better place for that film.
“The Legend of Johnny Lingo” is funny because it was partly sponsored by a juice company and the number of references to just how awesome this Noni juice stuff is makes it almost an advertisement.
Sons of Provo is criminally underrated.
Vincent Price as Joseph Smith Brigham Young makes me want to see this someday.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1055540-brigham_young
1. For The R.M. to finish ahead of Freetown is a travesty.
2. The Saratov Approach feels too high–I found it kind of boring. But it is still better than American Primeval.
3. Where’s Napoleon Dynamite? (You used the term “top Mormon-made films.)
4. Another thumbs up for New York Doll as just a great movie all around. And it’s not just the home teaching. If we treated everybody who’s a bit different the way the LA saints treated Arthur Kane,
we’d be a much healthier church.
The responses have convinced me even more that I need to see New York Doll. And it looks like it’s on Amazon Prime right now…
I didn’t know that about the Legend of Johnny Lingo. Having it sponsored by a scammy MLM is peak Utah.
The Brigham Young biopic was intriguing when I first went through the list, but it didn’t have a critic and user rating, so it didn’t make the cut. There were a few like that.
I actually haven’t watched Freetown–but I should because the main Sierra Leonese character (or one of the main characters) was in my ward and I actually went to the temple with him for what was either his first or one of his first times. Again, I haven’t seen it so I don’t know which character he was, people would just mention that brother so-and-so is that guy from the movie Freetown.
I guess I meant Mormon-made, Mormon-themed films. There are definitely hints of Mormon culture in Napoleon Dynamite that you can pick up if you’re paying attention, but IMO it isn’t explicit enough to be considered a “Mormon film.”
What about TC Christensen’s latest–Escape from Germany and Raising the Bar?
No, no, no. Provo Pride and Prejudice (as I like to call it) wasn’t exactly Casablanca, but it was so much more watchable than the Singles Ward or the RM, the latter of which was the movie that finally convinced me that just because you paid good money at Blockbuster doesn’t mean you have to finish watching the movie.
DSC: I agree re Pride and Prejudice, although I’ve never seen the RM.
Tom: Escape from Germany didn’t have a critic rating, so I couldn’t do the combined score approach.
I’ll also mention that I watched New York Doll while cleaning, and I thought the most poignant part was after his flashy, sold-out, comeback rock show where all of his dreams had been fulfilled after hitting rock bottom, but he said the highlight of the experience was becoming friends again with his former bandmate after decades of soul-destroying hatred.
I made that point to the eq when I showed parts of New York Doll to them, Stephen. The point wasn’t the concert but the reconciliation, since Alma 34 says we take our attitudes with us into the next life.
Big thumbs up for New York Doll.