User reviews

The movie does have a bit of an underdog, independent movie feel. But it never really captures too much on it. The main actor is doing a very fine job indeed and never really fails in portraying an awkward character, that should be more despicable than likable. Which makes it almost too hard to believe so many people actually invest (trust) him to do anything (and it proves more often than not they shouldn't have).

Comedy is a broad word/term and not every movie that sets out to make one really does succeed satisfyingly in trying. And while I do admire anyone trying to make something worthwhile and fun to watch, I do hope that people will focus on more than a few cheap jokes in general (and when some of them fail to deliver it gets worse). Story is as simple as our hero is simple minded. You might find it's little created world a bit more appealing than others, generally speaking this could have used a bit more "spark"

I watched this movie based on the reviews I've seen here. Unfortunately, I am now completely convinced that my personal tastes are a literal light year and a fathom away from the tastes of other viewers.

This movie was just painful. The story moves on at a torturous pace, and is filled with dialog that is funny at first, but gets old very quickly. The characters are absolutely just bizarre, and a few of them make no sense at all. The protagonist, Mr. Shepherd, has the intelligence of a "dumb and dumber" type hero, and much of the film centers around him describing the world from his point of view. In light of that, I highly suggest you remove your brain before watching. Perhaps leave it in a jar by your bed. You know, someplace you won't lose it, and won't feel guilty for not having it on you for the evening.

Danny Trejo is as good as he can be with what he was given, but that's still no reason to put his face on the cover with a baseball bat. It's very misleading, because this movie is not about him.

I'm rating this movie at a 5. It was not the worst movie I've ever seen and did have one or two good moments. The best parts are the over-generalizations of the TV evangelists who are used-car-salesman type preachers. Fun to watch, but still just a play on a stereotype. Not very original. Production value was quite good, it was only difficult to watch because of it's content, not because of it's plot cohesion or filming.

All in all, I did not enjoy it. But to each their own, apparently some others did.

Pastor Shepherd is a well loved figure on his Prayer Hour. To see how he has come to reality is a terrific story of how some strange evangelists end up in the "business"

I truly believe Pastor Shepherd is as qualified as any TV dude who is trying to raise funds for the cause!!!! The question is, whose cause.

Watch it for what it is intended. Clearing the brain and soul of all the goofed up statements you hear and look to the innocence of the true Gospel. Thank you Pastor Shepherd, you are my checks and balances system for bad theology. We love you.....

I've been meaning to watch this movie for years, because I knew "Pastor Shepherd" growing up. Spoiler alert: his name isn't really Pastor Shepherd, or even Mr. Shepherd. I finally found the time recently after I stumbled upon the full-length version on YouTube.

Oh my gods this film is awful. I'm perplexed by the number of 10 star reviews. Those must have been left by "Shepherd's" friends and family because there is no way an objective person could watch it and conclude that it's anything other than lousy. Unless perhaps they have horrible taste in entertainment, which wouldn't be a surprise at all given that the kind of people who made "Honey Boo-Boo" and "Duck Dynasty" hit shows helped put an incompetent con-man in the White House. But I digress.

The "plot" consists of Mr. Shepherd grinning maniacally through a series of disconnected scenes on his way to becoming a televangelist. The acting (except for Trejo & Laas) is generally high school second-string JV drama club level. The humor is lame. Every punch line fell flat, I never once cracked a smile. I feel worse off for having seen this movie.

The cover of the dvd has Danny Trejo holding a baseball bat with a fierce look. It's billed on the back as an "action" movie. There's no action. Zero. Zip. Nada. None at all. Which is fine if you aren't being mislead about the content. The content is more of an indie comedy. The main character, Shepherd, played by someone called Pastor Shepherd (not kidding), is given zero billing. I had to dig around to find his name. His image, even though he is the main character that predominates every scene, is not on the cover. This is just a boring, weird, meandering movie where you desperately wait and wait for something, anything, interesting to happen but it never does. It's beneath Danny Trejo.

My 1st review for this site and regrettably it isn't a good one. After reading all the other great reviews, I watched this movie with some friends and collectively we thought it was terrible. Sure there was some comedy, as it highlighted how stupid these TV Evanglists are, but the laughs were over pretty quick. Throughout the movie there were long pauses between dialog and that stupid smile on the Pastors face became irritating towards the end. The filming looked very amateurish and something you would see in a C class movie that ends up in the back corner of your video store. Forest Gump it is not and definitely not a cult movie to be seen over and over again. Maybe it should be played before the next Evanglist show on TV as it would certainly make you change channels.

By far the worst movie I have ever seen and being a movie buff I have endured a lot of terrible movies. The main character seems incapable of showing any real emotions or having any coherent thought; with a different actor this movie could have actually taken off to be somewhat of a success. The supporting characters were good, and acted relatively well.

Watching this movie felt more torturous than having to mow my lawn with scissors and cutting every single blade to the exact same length. Watch this movie at your own risk, you have been warned.

This extra line is to make the minimum 10 lines to publish this review.

For some crazy reason, they have this movie available on the Dove Channel!! It is NOT something that a family should be watching! There is NOTHING wholesome about it at all! It basically is teaching the best way to make money is to become a televangelist and con people out of their money. Now as much as I agree that most televangelist are just con-men, there was no reason to glorify them and make what they do okay. If I could have rated this movie with a big fat zero I would have!

Raised by evangelists, I normally don't find films about religion funny at all. Between flashbacks of my baptism in the Atlantic Ocean and post-traumatic stress from having to memorize all the books of the Bible (forwards and backwards --- that's right Revelation to Genesis and everything in between -- 66 in all, if memory serves) I normally run faster than Lot's family from Sodom and Gomorrah at the mention of anything with the word "Pastor" attached.

Soooo, I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself happily locked into my seat for the duration of Edwin Marshall's "Pastor Shepherd." As an industry veteran, my normally jaded filter was wiped clean by the naiveté with which our hero approached life. Not since "Forrest Gump" has a character's purity of spirit so captivated an audience. His journey as he cares for his prescription drug and televangelist-addicted mother, applies himself diligently to his dare we say... morbid? profession, and struggles to communicate with those in his small world, has us cheering for this unlikely hero. "Pastor Shepherd" hearkens us back to a time when innocence was cool. And I think that's pretty darn neat.

This film is sure to become the next great cult classic. It's the kind of movie you want to share with friends and watch over and over again. I haven't laughed that hard in a movie in a long time! If you've ever watched late night televangelists and laughed out loud, then this is the movie for you! But there's so much more to it than a simple satire of televangelism. I was surprised at the heartwarming story that made you come to love Pastor Sheperd!

Wow!! What a great character! Pastor Sheperd is reminiscent of a classic SNL character, however I enjoyed this movie far more than any movie spawned from an SNL character I've ever seen! The comedic timing is brilliant!

And then there's Danny Trejo, "the world's greatest bad-ass", playing the warm and friendly neighbor. How can you miss out on that!

It was a pleasant surprise to watch a movie that was that funny and yet was so clean. It seems like comedies today are in a contest to see who can be the most vulgar. Movies like Pastor Sheperd and Napoleon Dynamite have proved that that isn't necessary.

Its well cast, well written and perfectly executed!!

This is a great movie to watch with anyone you want! At first everything seems a little creepy but all the characters are played great and you can feel the good atmosphere in there :)

Even if its incomparable some scenes had a "little miss sunshine" feeling to it .

Also I like the fact its not overloaded with vulgarity so I can recommend it to anyone I want :)

There is a lot of videos from Pastor Shepherd on youtube and from Josh Perry & Scott Allen Perry too !

Thanks for this great Movie !

A friend invited me to the WorldFest Houston film festival to see this film. Overall I really enjoyed it. There are truly some laugh out loud moments. I really liked the Dewey character. I literally laughed for 2-3 minutes after seeing him painting his toenails with white-out. I also think the interaction between Shepherd and Phil, especially early in the film, is classic funny.

This may not be Danny Trejo's most memorable role, but I think we was more than adequate as the straight man to Shepherd's goofiness.

There is a definite 'independent' vibe to the film, but not in a negative way. In fact, it's clean and professional in it's delivery. I'm looking forward to seeing it again, I get the feeling there is more funny in the film that I missed.

I saw this with my parents and I liked it just as much as they did. My dad had kind of convinced me to see this and Im glad that he did. Both he and I really liked the relationships and then of course the connections that they all have with one another. Very different than most of what is in the movies and I liked that., I love it when any movie makes you think... I am so sick of all these big blockbusters with no character or main person worth investing in. I recommend this to anyone religious, goes to church, or has family that does. There are millions of action films out there and even more super hero ones, but this movie to me was super unique and different! I just loved the main character. i give it a 9 out of 10!

Good character development with lots of laughs. Plot keeps you guessing. Dewey was a hoot. Maria Elena is a up and coming actress that stole the show. As for Pastor Shepherd, what can I say. I am a big fan of his website and you tube episodes. He does not disappoint in the movie. I laughed so hard when they had to take Pastor Shepherd's mom to the hospital in a ATV. I still can't believe they were able to get a couch in a hearse. Not all laughs, there were some tender moments too. Pastor Shepherd also takes aim at the television evangelists that fleece homebound persons who can't attend church. The movie handles the subject with respect and does not demean the industry as a whole. The movie did a good job getting the point across. Good movie! Can't wait for the sequel.

This is one of those rare, indie gem sleepers that go almost unnoticed until you find it yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finish. The script was utterly hilarious, as well as all of the characters. Danny Trejo got a great role, even though it was a relatively minor one, and showed off his comedic talent. Several of the lines in the movie are so funny, they hit you like a sight gag. I could not stop laughing at the interludes between Pastor Shepherd and his boss at the freeze-dried pet company. Whoever directed this deserves an award. It reminds me of a really good John Waters movie. If you want to be very pleasantly surprised by an overlooked gem, this is your ticket. Definitely one of the funniest movies in the last 20 years.

This movie has unadulterated moxie. As we move through a generation where new comedies depend more and more on cheap gags to get a few laughs, Pastor Shepherd is a welcome breath of fresh air. The writer did a wonderful job delivering a true form of comedy that is dry, entertaining, and terribly smart. Amazing! Saw this at a friends house, wish I could stream it! Trejo did an amazing job and it was great to see him out of the usual character he plays. Comedy is dry but extremely funny. It could be Napoleon Dynamites long lost brother as far as Im concerned. Kudos to the writer... BRILLIANT! Highly recommend.

Pastor Shepherd has shown us a very dark but very real side of religion that sometimes even the true believers can't see. Giving money and resources to help those in need is truly a great thing...giving to build egos and personal dreams is quite another. Great lesson, awesome humor, Funny, funny, funny!!! Watch this movie and you'll see what I'm talking about. Crazy good stuff. Danny Trejo is perfect in it, too. Loved the boss and Danny's daughter. And, I want one of those cool hearses. Can't wait to see more from this guy. He has a YouTube channel that is crazy and ridiculous stuff, but funny and all too true. I give him a 10!