Film Review: The Returned Missionary [The R.M.] (dir. K. Hale, 2003)

Regular readers of this blog will know about my inexplicable interest in all things Mormon. Including Mormon (or L.D.S., if you prefer) film. This interest led us to rent The R.M., one of the leading exemplars of the "L.D.S. humor" genre.

A common criticism of L.D.S. humor is that such films are start-to-finish in-jokes only members of the church would get. After seeing this film, I have to agree. If you don't know a lot about Mormonism, this film would not be that funny. Oh, sure, there are the cheap slapstick gags. But if you want to see a protagonist brought low by the malice of inanimate objects, then you would just rent a Ben Stiller flick. Indeed, The R.M. owes a lot to the "protagonist humiliation" genre mastered by Stiller. The plot follows Jared, a young L.D.S. missionary returning to Utah after his two year mission (in Wyoming). As in Sixteen Candles, no one remembers Jared's big day. No one meets him at the airport--although Jared meets someone at the airport, the lovely Kelly. Kelly flirts with Jared--which would be, outside of a movie plot, ridiculous, because she's way out of his league--but he is cool, because his girlfriend Molly is supposed to be waiting for him, just like his job, his admission to BYU, and so on. As you might guess, Molly is engaged to someone else, the job has disappeared (his former boss is played by Wally Joyner, one of may L.D.S. cameos), and he gets rejected by BYU. Plus, his family has moved, and they have given his room over to a Tongan exchange student (another Sixteen Candles parallel). (BTW, with the Tongan exchange student ("Humu"), there are some questionable jokes re: Pacific Islanders, although none quite like that in Pulp Fiction. ) Many humiliations greet Jared along the way--including a stint waiting tables at "Mormon Burger."

Jared eventually "hits bottom," thanks to some help from his "best friend forever," a non-observant Mormon (called a "Jack Mormon" in the L.D.S. argot). But then he finds his footing and everything works out--of course. This is a comedy people. It can't have an unhappy ending.

The inside jokes concern Jared's travails as leader of his meeting house's elders ward (kind of a Sunday school teacher for less-than-enthusiastic adult men), home teaching, Mormon food storage, his ten sibling's Scriptural names, a spoof on Mormon engagement rings, the entrereneurial spirit of "Utahweddings.com" and his parents' Mormon Amway-style business venture, and so on. I'm sure that there are a bunch of inside jokes that I didin't get, as an outsider.

My interest in this film, however, was sociological, and in that vein, the film does not disappoint. But not for most non-L.D.S., I assure you. Trust me.

Rated PG, "for some thematic elements." What the hell does that mean? It must have been the drinking/drunk driving?