''The Good Catholic'' is a 2017 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film written and directed by Paul Shoulberg. The film stars Zachary Spicer,

Wrenn Schmidt Melinda Wrenn Schmidt (born February 18, 1983) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as NASA engineer, flight director, and later director of NASA Margo Madison in the Apple TV+ original science-fiction space drama ser ...

Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...

and

John C. McGinley John Christopher McGinley (born August 3, 1959) is an American actor. His best known roles include Perry Cox in '' Scrubs'', Bob Slydell in ''Office Space'', Captain Hendrix in '' The Rock'', Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's ''Platoon,'' ...

. The film was released on September 8, 2017, by

Broad Green Pictures Broad Green Pictures LLC was an American film production and distribution company. It was founded in 2014 by CEO Gabriel Hammond and Chief Creative Officer, Daniel Hammond. History On February 25, 2015, Broad Green Pictures acquired a 45% stake ...

Plot

Three

Catholic priests The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

live in a rectory together. Young Father Daniel jogs daily and lost his father in the past year. Father Ollie really likes food and is a big fan of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

basketball. More elderly Father Victor is completely devoted to the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, with little outside interests. He finds comfort in setting up the candles and the church for

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, by himself in his own specific way. They eat together, set the weekly schedule for baptisms and church services and run the general work of the church. They also discuss

Scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

, their proposed homilies and the meaning of God in their lives. One Friday night, young Father Dan meets Jane through the

confessional box A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall where the priest from some Christian denominations sits to hear the confessions of a penitent's sins. It is the traditional venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran ...

. She tells him she is a musician and is dying. She is new to the church thing, but over the weeks they become friends, to the point of playing "

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

" in the confessional. Jane explains how she wants her remains to be disposed of, but changes her mind at times. She invites Dan to hear her sing at her

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

and he goes. One night, they reverse roles and she wants him to unburden himself. He tells her that he is happy to be a man of God and help people, but he does not see Him. Dan gives her a gift of a Bible after a

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

night and she gets angry. Throughout the movie, each priest rehearses a

homily A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered ...

: * Dan teaches that

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

gives meaning to life. Enjoy life now, for we all die. * Father Ollie teaches compassion. We all need compassion, that means to suffer with another; we need to comfort the sick and be there with the dying. * Father Victor preaches that no one sees God, but He lives inside each of us. God, love and man are one. One night, Father Dan invites Jane over for dinner at the rectory. Father Ollie is enjoying the food cooked by Dan. Father Victor becomes very serious and asks what Father Daniel's primary passion is, reminding them that a priest has a duty to be devoted to God only. Jane, offended, leaves. Victor asks Daniel if he has lost his faith; Father Daniel says no, that he didn't have faith, until he met Jane. Shortly after, Father Victor delivers a homily that examines the relationship between God and love. Father Daniel is then seen running to Jane's house, where he removes his

clerical collar A clerical collar, Roman collar, clergy collar, or, informally, dog collar, is an item of Christian clerical clothing. Overview The clerical collar is almost always white and was originally made of cotton or linen but is now frequently made of pl ...

before knocking on the door.

Cast

* Zachary Spicer as Father Daniel *

as Jane *

as Father Victor *

as Father Ollie

Production

Paul Shoulberg both wrote and directed ''The Good Catholic'' and dedicated it to his recently passed father, Donald Shoulberg. The film was Pigasus Pictures' first feature film and was produced by Zachary Spicer, John Armstrong and Graham Sheldon. ''The Good Catholic'' began filming on January 25, 2016, in Bloomington,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Release

The film premiered at the

Santa Barbara International Film Festival The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is an eleven-day film festival held in Santa Barbara, California in February annually, since 1986. The festival screens over 200 feature films and shorts from different countries and regions. ...

on February 3, 2017. The film was released on September 8, 2017, by

. The film has been released on Amazon Prime streaming.

Reception

''The Good Catholic'' was accepted at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and won the ''Panavision Spirit Award'' for Best Independent Feature Film. The film holds a 43% "Rotten" score on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 14 critic reviews with an average rating of 5.9/10.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Catholic, The 2017 films American romantic comedy films 2017 romantic comedy films Films about Catholic priests Films shot in Indiana Broad Green Pictures films 2017 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language romantic comedy films