Journey to Bethlehem opens with a title card saying it’s based on a true story… the greatest story ever told, as it turns out. This comforts me because it suggests the movie I’m watching is just a tribute (you gotta believe me, wish you were there) and doesn’t itself claim to be great. Because it ain’t.
It’s the nativity story (again) but told as a corny rom-com musical complete with a meet cute between Mary and Joseph. And it’s cheesy and silly and omg the more cheesy and silly it got, the more fascinated I became. I was enjoying it not because it was funny, but because it was trying so hard to be funny. For example, when the angel comes to visit Mary to let her know God’s plans for her, we first see him practicing his speech, psyching himself up for the big moment. Then he turns and bumps his head on a rafter. This might be marginally amusing but its mainly funny because it’s in a friggin’ bible movie and shouldn’t be.
Oh, and it’s a musical too… a musical that, early on, is full of comedic songs with a shocking lack of creativity. In a song about Mary not wanting to get married, they put in the lyric “Mary Mary Quite Contrary”. Or when they give King Harrod a song, he sings that “it’s good to be king”… borrowed exactly from Mel Brooks in History of the World (though eventually the song changes the lyric to “It’s so stinkin’ good to be king”). Or the three magi have a lyric where they call themselves “Three Wise Guys” <face palm>.
But then other songs are dreadfully serious and kind of boring (and there are way too many of them)… only when this movie is bad is it good. But the film’s goofball comedy probably doesn’t jibe well with the Nativity Story and probably would piss off unamused true believers (the film gives a closing title card apologizing for the blasphemy… my words, not theirs). So it’s almost a relief when the flick stops being funny and takes it birth of Jesus narrative seriously. Which naturally sucks the life out of the flick at the same time. It’s not a good enough movie to be a serious nativity film.
Oh, and Antonio Banderas plays King Herrod and he’s… amusing (it’s weird this is the funny King Harrod, for example). Didn’t recognize anyone else but the young lady playing Mary was convincing and earnest. Not so sure about Joseph… or his fear of asses (a joke in the movie).
But there is a high camp value to the first half that you might enjoy. Or you might just cringe at it… since I didn’t enjoy it for being good comedy, I enjoyed it for being bad comedy crammed awkwardly into an otherwise serious bible story.
Score: 74