On Saturday March 12, my husband and I, treated ourselves to Kevin Smith's Red State Tour; which included a screening of his newest film, Red State, and a Q&A session afterwards. It was an enjoyable evening for both of us, and I want to provide you, my friends, with a peek as to reasons why.
Let's start with a quick synopsis of the movie: Red State is a story where we take a Phelps-like family (Westoboro Baptist Church) and multiply their hate mongering craziness times, oh, let's say a million. In this film, Michael Parks plays the patriarch, Abin Cooper, of this clan of hate-mongerers (5 Points Trinity Church) , and they go from simply protesting funerals to murdering those who they feel are the sinners of the world. John Goodman plays an aging ATF agent, Joseph Kennan, who is sent to investigate the family for stockpiling arms. These two are accompanied by an incredible cast including 2011 Academy Award winning actress, Melissa Leo as a one of the "believers", Michael Angarano (Sky High) as one of the victims of the family, and Kevin Smiths own wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as a "believer". This collection of actors gave gritty performances that brought us into the film, and made us cheer for the demise of this family. Michael Perks gives a charismatic and oddly fatherly performance of a man who truly believes what he preaches. John Goodman's performance simply blew me away! He made his character believable with a healthy mix of gritty wisdom and dry humor. The script was impeccable and tight, and the cast did an incredible job of translating it to the screen. The crowd here in KC absolutely loved this movie, showed Kevin their love all evening with their loud applause, laughter in somewhat odd spots, and cheering at each interesting and bloody turn.
Prior to the show, Kevin Smith invited Megan Phelps and the entire Phelps family and members of WBC to the screening; they have had a conversation for the past little while. The Phelps family did picket outside, and agreed to join Kevin on stage after the film for the Q&A. Alas; we were to be disappointed and stood up: not 15 minutes into the film, Megan and Phyllis tapped Kevin on the shoulder and told him that they had to leave, due to the filth (lol). Kevin also live twote throughout the film, and we enjoyed his comments about her leaving. We also received his thoughts on the KC crowd's responses throughout the night, which was amazingly funny.
The Q&A session was a pretty standard Kevin Smith Q&A, until Joshua and Libby Phelps stepped up to the stage. These two are Fred Phelps grandchildren who decided to leave the madness that is the Phelps family. Listening to the two of them describe how their family believes exactly what they are doing is part of the salvation of the world was creepy and enlightening. It was heartwarming to hear them apologize to the community for their involvement in creating an atmosphere of hate. I want to commend these two for having the courage to walk away from their family and standing up against the perpetuation of hate.
All and all this was a great film. It was provocative, engaging, violent, and eerily funny. The mix of a strong script, killer cast, engaging director, and social medium coverage made this night one of the best events I have ever been to!
Let's start with a quick synopsis of the movie: Red State is a story where we take a Phelps-like family (Westoboro Baptist Church) and multiply their hate mongering craziness times, oh, let's say a million. In this film, Michael Parks plays the patriarch, Abin Cooper, of this clan of hate-mongerers (5 Points Trinity Church) , and they go from simply protesting funerals to murdering those who they feel are the sinners of the world. John Goodman plays an aging ATF agent, Joseph Kennan, who is sent to investigate the family for stockpiling arms. These two are accompanied by an incredible cast including 2011 Academy Award winning actress, Melissa Leo as a one of the "believers", Michael Angarano (Sky High) as one of the victims of the family, and Kevin Smiths own wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as a "believer". This collection of actors gave gritty performances that brought us into the film, and made us cheer for the demise of this family. Michael Perks gives a charismatic and oddly fatherly performance of a man who truly believes what he preaches. John Goodman's performance simply blew me away! He made his character believable with a healthy mix of gritty wisdom and dry humor. The script was impeccable and tight, and the cast did an incredible job of translating it to the screen. The crowd here in KC absolutely loved this movie, showed Kevin their love all evening with their loud applause, laughter in somewhat odd spots, and cheering at each interesting and bloody turn.
Prior to the show, Kevin Smith invited Megan Phelps and the entire Phelps family and members of WBC to the screening; they have had a conversation for the past little while. The Phelps family did picket outside, and agreed to join Kevin on stage after the film for the Q&A. Alas; we were to be disappointed and stood up: not 15 minutes into the film, Megan and Phyllis tapped Kevin on the shoulder and told him that they had to leave, due to the filth (lol). Kevin also live twote throughout the film, and we enjoyed his comments about her leaving. We also received his thoughts on the KC crowd's responses throughout the night, which was amazingly funny.
The Q&A session was a pretty standard Kevin Smith Q&A, until Joshua and Libby Phelps stepped up to the stage. These two are Fred Phelps grandchildren who decided to leave the madness that is the Phelps family. Listening to the two of them describe how their family believes exactly what they are doing is part of the salvation of the world was creepy and enlightening. It was heartwarming to hear them apologize to the community for their involvement in creating an atmosphere of hate. I want to commend these two for having the courage to walk away from their family and standing up against the perpetuation of hate.
All and all this was a great film. It was provocative, engaging, violent, and eerily funny. The mix of a strong script, killer cast, engaging director, and social medium coverage made this night one of the best events I have ever been to!
Thanks for sharing! It's great to hear about Joshua and Libby Phelps leaving the family. Surely there's a book in the works about their story!
ReplyDeleteI had heard about Kevin and the Phelps' history and am glad he invited them for an open discussion. This family appears to only want a one-sided display of ideas.
Looking forward to this movie!
Thank you Shawn! It really was an enjoyable evening, and I hope to see you viewing my blogs more often! :D
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