It’s not often that you find a Christian movie designed for progressive audiences, let alone hear of one existing. Through my lens, the movie World Christian mostly revolves around Kirk Cameron, with side roles played by Ray Comfort. He sort of reminds me of Stan Lee (rest in peace) but is way more traditional as well as, well, nutty.
I have no idea how I ended up on Tripp Fuller’s email list, but this is how I learned about The Road to Edmond. At this point, I did not consider myself a very progressive Christian and was thrown into the grey area of whether I would love or absolutely hate the self-proclaimed best progressive Christian road trip buddy comedy movie.
Cleo (Nathanael Welch) is a youth pastor whose church elders asked him to take a break from work. They were not pleased with the affection and acceptance he showed towards one of the girls in his youth group, and as a result, they wanted him to go on leave. He was quite vexed and took his camping and fishing equipment out for some solitude which he planned on achieving through a solitary bike ride. Unfortunately, his plans went sideways when he had an encounter with a Jack Blackish lookalike Larry (Tripp Fuller) who was riding in a rust bucket of a car called White Lightning with his dead father.
Your friend who speaks too loud has questionable hygiene and is embarrassing but who is also fun at parties is maybe the friend you have in Larry.
Cleo, stranded after the meeting, is forced to take a road trip with Larry, as he is the embodiment of fun at parties as opposed to the Disturbing, sullen, serious, sulky Cleo who is humorless. To make matters worse, Cleo’s posture is literally the opposite of fun. Even the sales pitch that Larry coerced Cleo into giving for Christianity was unbearably stuffy. Many of Larry’s attempts to breathe life into Cleo were funny and lightened up the movie.
Just like any other road trip movie, we get to learn more about the protagonists as they move along their journey. Larry is further revealed to be on a trip to check off tasks that ultimately lead him to Edmond, Oklahoma. This explains the title of the movie.
Sadly, White Lightning suffers a mechanical failure and the couple is forced to camp next to a river. This is where we observe exchanges of faith, religion and doubt being examined. It is worth noting that even though this is a Christian movie, the theology is never overly emphasized. It is integrated beautifully in natural conversations and doesn’t feel forced at all.
There was one scene that I thought was totally unnecessary (did they really have to roll joints with Bible pages?), and there was one bit of theology I didn’t quite agree with, but aside from that, I’d say this movie, despite the budget of $30,000, is so much better than any Kirk Cameron movie, even Fireproof.
The Road to Edmond is a commendable debut effort. I had low expectations (let’s be honest, who has high expectations for Christian movies?), but it kept me entertained and made me ponder. I loved the soundtrack and found myself using Shazam almost every other minute. To top it off, I watched it twice.
As a gay man deeply immersed in the Evangelical/Pentecostal world and has served in volunteer church leadership, the film is relatable on a more personal level. Some of the issues and questions that Cleo and Larry grapple with are also ones that I have had to contend with. I believe a good number of LGBTQ+ Evangelicals would likely feel the same. This film is relatable for most of us.
Whether you are very open-minded or not, make sure to watch The Road to Edmond. For extra fun, share it with your small group and discuss the… well… less agreeable parts. There are so many questions and problems from the movie that are so relevant to Evangelicals and progressives that I am sure most people will have something to say. Even if you have not encountered those situations, it is more likely than not you have come across them in some way.
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