User reviews

I saw an ad for this documentary on TikTok and knew I had to watch. I recognized the Falwell name but was unaware that any of this occurred. I had a vague recollection of some type of scandal but that was it. The documentary does well laying out the way GianCarlo was drawn into their world and the repercussions of that decision. This was a good documentary, but the background music was too loud for me. The music would stop for a moment then start again. It would have been a 9, or maybe a 10, but the music was distracting. It is probably just me and this won't stop me from recommending this doc to others, but I had to pause frequently and restart. I finally turned the volume down and watched with subtitles.

As "God Forbid" (2022 release; 109 min) opens, we are introduced to Giancarlo Granda, a Cuban-American who comments "If I knew what would've happened, I'd walked away." We then go to "March 12, 2012" and Becki Falwell, wife of Christian evangelican leader Jerry Falwell Jr., picks up a 20 yo pool boy at a Miami hotel. It isn't long before they start a torrid affair, with Jerry Jr. Looking on (literally). At this point we are 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from longtime director Bill Corben ("537 Votes"). Here he reassesses the turbulent life and times of Jerry Falwell Jr. And his wife Becki as the leaders of Liberty University. The documentary is basically a 2-in-1: on the one side there is the salacious personal hypocrisy of the Falwells in how they practice their "Christian values" or the lack thereof (comments Giancarlo's sister: "They are not the good Christians they portray themselves to be"), and then there is the political fallout from the Christian evangelicans' wholesome embrace of Trump(ism) : in both 2016 and 2020, about 80% of Christian evangelicans voted for Trump, who of course doesn't have an ounce of "Christian values" in his body, the Big Loser and Liar-In-Chief that he was and still is. In the middle of all this is Giancarlo Granda, who was just 20 years old when all of this started a decade ago. I found this documentary to be surprisingly well done.

"God Forbid" started streaming on Hulu earlier this week, and I just caught it last night. If nothing else, watch this as it exposes (again) the utter and sheer hypocrisy of Christian evangelicans who preach one thing and then have no problem supporting a man who literally lies every single day, cares for no-one but No. 1, and then for good measure tried overturning the 2020 presidential election results in every which way, including staging a (failed) insurrection on January 6. But hey, he did appoint 3 justices to the Supreme Court, so it's all good! Of course don't take my word for it, so check out "God Forbid" and draw your own conclusion.

I thought the documentary was well made and clearly well researched. It exposed not only the hypocrisy of the Falwells, but the white evangelical movement as a whole. I found Granda to be believable and well prepared to support his account of events. He was not innocent, and he admits that freely and in detail, but they ran over him and damn near cost him his life and then Jerry threw his own wife directly under the bus to preserve....what? His godly reputation? I live not far from Falwellville (Liberty) and I don't know anyone who was surprised by this. His alcoholism and lack of character and moral compass were the worst kept secret in Lynchburg. While I believe that what you do in the privacy of your relationship is of no concern if no one is getting hurt (ultimately granda was damaged), when you make your fortune and grab political power by oppressing others you deserve the fall from the grace you pretended to embrace.

Interesting and compelling story. I am a big fan of real-life stories and documentaries.

The background music in this movie is blaring and completely distracting! It makes it hard to hear and follow and often doesn't match the story at the moment! It honestly almost makes the story unwatchable! While people are talking there is this light and banging music. I almost thought there was another channel playing in the background! I wish there were a way to take it out or watch without it like you can on workout videos 🤣

I love that Giancarlo is telling the story. He's believable and appealing. I like that his sister is also in the doc.

Just please! GOD FORBID, get rid of the music!!!

Christian's and evangelist will rate this movie poorly, so Much dirt was revealed here it deserves an 11 out of 10. Thanks for telling us the truth. I appreciate people that spend their time finding justification in the truth. Think of all the people they were lied to, Incredible how they duped and hoaxed millions of people including their own kids! They received millions in donations weekly! This movie will blow you away. Very upsetting for someone with a long devoted history to God. We are all just a number to this family. It's all about power, money and sex. They were tied to Mike Cohen, Trump - you know the America most honest people. You will meet your creator someday - the truth always comes out !! Good work.

First, I admit that this is doc had me pulled in from jump street with a primary story straight out of a movie. I admire the "main character's" composure recounting alot of weirdness. For some reason, the storyteller turned the show into another leftist agenda driver with a bunch of Trump sucks innuendo. Boring, tired and lazy, just like all of the material that goes in this direction. Additionally, the ending is completely out of left field. Not sure why the creators had to push the pro-choice message so hard as it had almost nothing to do with the main story. There's a time and place for everything and this doc devolved into a political trip when it didn't need to at all.

The story itself is hard to believe. To think that someone in the public eye is stupid enough to do something that is so sleazy is shocking. Here the Falwell's have this persona of being straight laced ultra religious people, and set high moral standards for students at the university, yet they secretly engage in all sorts of sleazy activities. Disgusting.

As an aside, reading some of the negative reviews by Trump supporters I had to laugh. Many said that the second half of the movie tried to make trump and the republicans look bad. LOL! Trump does a pretty darn good job of that all by himself. Lighten up people.

What a fun and interesting documentary to watch. McCay puts a cool spin on it and makes it very fun and exciting with the music and the way things were filmed and presented. The story is also equal parts funny and crazy. To think that all of this is real is wild. I did not like them using him to suggest a narrative against Christianity and Republicans. Sure it was a bad story with plenty of secrets and lying but to use it as a blanket for all of those people isn't right. But regardless definitely watch it and it's fun and interesting. IMDb needs to chill with this character minimum requirement.

Seriously guys, who in gods green earth did the sound mixing for this? They need to be fired and never allowed to work on a film again. The documentary starts with the subject giving an interview with rap blasting in the background at the same volume! It's insanely hard to hear what someone is saying with lyrical rap music playing over it.

I thought that the intro would be the end of it, but unfortunately this continues throughout the entire documentary. It's an ok story, but the aggressively loud "background" music is just way too distracting. Do yourself a favour, watch it on mute and read the subtitles.

The documentary explained things exactly as it is, yet the truth is deemed biased. Maybe Charlie Kirk called on his many sheep to come here and submit their BS?

Great documentary shedding a ton of light on what happened between this kid and a bunch of hypocrites. During the first 20 minutes, I thought "hey, live and let live." I didn't care what they did behind closed doors. But when it was revealed how twisted their true agenda was and how it impacted literally all of our lives politically, it made me sick. The Amerikan Taliban is thriving thanks to disgusting characters like the Falwells. It explains perfectly how their alleged faith plays third fiddle to power and greed. Their faith actually isn't even on their radar. This goes for all of them, not just the Falwells. They're in it for the money and the power, and nothing else. Gross human beings who will be remembered in history as the charlatans they are. And their supporters will be remembered by their children and grandchildren as nothing more than an embarrassing era in their family histories. We actually deserve this. I guess a society has to dabble in theocracy and fascism before it knows any better. I take comfort in knowing that I'll be able to look my children and grandchildren in the eyes one day and confidently say that I was not one of these idiots.

So many reviewers here are stating that this started out great, then nosedived because there were "unrelated" stories about Trump and Co. For those who actually paid attention, this doc starts out great and remains great throughout. It exposes ALL the hypocrisy, not only of evangelicals, but of the political right. Jery Falwell Jr.'s endorsement of Trump in 2016 opened the door for other evangelical preachers to also endorse him, and thereafter have the evangelicals wrapped around his pudgy little finger. This is an extremely important part of this story. Falwell endorsing Trump and showing him the "loyalty" he so craves, made Falwell think that he was an all-powerful god among men, and that he could get away with anything. Trump offered him the Secretary of Education for his loyalty!

It still sort of shocks me that there are some people who will make statements about people like Falwell and Trump as though the nebulous "Left" is always after Trump or people like Falwell, even though they've NEVER done anything wrong. This documentary puts the truth out there, and it's still called a lie. As a great Senator once said, "everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but they're not entitled to their own facts." If you're one that has an opinion about Giancarlo Granda, or Falwell, or his wife, or even Trump, watch this so that at least you're armed with facts to back up your opinion. We still do that, right?

It appears by some of the reviews that people have a hard time hearing the truth about the hypocrisy of these evangelical political pundits. This documentary does an excellent job of showing how predatory and powerful the religious right has become in the last 40 years. Manipulating the weak minded by bashing the morals of others all the while living a double life. I can't believe people still put any weight in what these hypocrites say after the truth has come out about so many of them. Bunch of snake-oil salesmen (and women). I feel truly sorry for the young man that got roped into JFJ's chaos.

I would have given it an eight out of ten if it was only about Falwell. However, after about 35 minutes, it only talked about how awful anyone was as a supporter of Trump and only spoke about opinions and no longer had facts. It should have ended after 35 minutes. If you are looking for something that CNN would enjoy, then this is the show for you. If you like to hear about the story of the Falwell, then you should stop watching after the first 35 minutes. Overall it could have been much better, but the writer was too worried about making Republicans look worse than the two people that the documentary should have only been about.

Judging by some of the user reviews, this excellent documentary reveals too much painful truth about the virulent hypocrisy and corruption that lies beneath the Evangelical right.

People are okay with all the lurid details of the sex scandal, but don't like the political aspects of the film. The problem with that is that Evangelicals have made themselves political so, when you connect all the dots, you can't get away from the uncomfortable truth that America is at a dangerous tipping point when flagrantly hypocritical conmen (and women) are putting on a religious act and telling you how to vote.

The show was interesting in the beginning and then completely turned into a trump hit piece. After 30 minutes the film just turns into a political agenda and doesn't correlate with the original story. Another desperate orange man bad film....what's new. Is it me or are the majority of shows nowadays just left leaning liberal garbage. If you sit and watch CNN all day.this is the show for you to continue feeding yourself the orange man bad narrative. Reminded me of the Epstein film where the director of the film wasn't even focused on Epstein and was completely focused on throwing shade at trump.

Both hilarious and infuriating, God Forbid chronicles the sordid and kinky demise of the First Family of America's Christian Right, The Falwells. After decades rending harsh judgements on particularly gay people for 'perverted sex', it seems fitting the Falwell Jr.s would be 'exposed' as a swinging couple of freaks doing a 3-way with...the poolboy? Character Counts -- that was the refrain of the Falwell types during the eight years of the Clinton administration, during which Falwell Sr. Tried to hawk a conspiracy video tying the president to several deaths, including elderly aquaintences who died of heart attacks, etc. This was always a hypocritical bunch of grifters and they probably suckered someone you knew out of their limited bank account.

This documentary should be on everyone's must see list, it is well done, perfectly paced and explains a lot about the state of the United States and right wing politics in the bible belt.

The kid who this story is about is the most honest, down to earth, well spoken and its very hard not to like him after you hear him explain why he did such and such. You feel for him because he really did get used and abused by people that had a very easy choice to get out of it for 1/10000th of the price. All he asked was that they kept their word, and if they did just that this film does not get made.

Yet even when the big billionairs promise and shake your hand on something, they will still weasel out of it even over a minute amount that in the end ends up costing them many multiples if they just did the right thing and kept the bargain they made.

That is where the attraction of this movie comes, you see that people that are this full of themselves, like the Trumps and Falwells, are so narcissistic that they think they can control everything and even when there is a simple straight exit out for them, they think that they are better than everyone else and they can do as they wish without it ever coming back to hurt them. They were wrong.

I command the courage of the kid for speaking out, its obvious that the egotism of this family made that choice for him... and folks like me and everyone who gets to watch this documentary are now many times wiser to the real rot that lies in the hearts and halls of power of the people that swear on the bible, but never feel that the commandments do not apply to them, AS if somehow they are above it all.

The editing, sound mix and general pacing of this documentary makes it an absolute ordeal to watch. The pacing of the cutting, the selection of shots and relentless crappy music make it feel like they just cut a 90 min sync cut and just wallpapered shots and music over it and said "that'll do". The visuals are really lazy and horribly filmed, I don't know if a lot of the footage was generic stock footage, but it certainly looks that way. I imagine this had a big budget, but because of the way it's been quite amateurishly executed it ends up looking pretty cheap and low-end. I'm a massive fan of Adam McKay and I was drawn to this film because he was an exec producer and I'd love to know how much input he had in this because there's no resemblance to anything he's done before. Absolutely awful, sorry.

This movie exposes the mega churches (and universities) of who they really are and how they truly act! The hypocrisy of the white evangelical leaders that restrict and shame their congregants to be "good" by not doing the things they do behind closed doors, at pools, in NY, etc etc. I really like that the actual person involved in the incident - Mr. Pool Boy- was not only able to discuss his thoughts and feelings on what happened, but was able to show receipts for it as well. Spilt the tea and I'm loving it. Especially being 45 mins from Lynchburg and having to hear about Liberty University all the time. Gross.

The movie "God Forbid: The Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty" is a documentary about the sex scandal involving Jerry Falwell Jr., his wife Becki, and Giancarlo Granda. The once-respected conservative Republican and Christian evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr. And his wife Becki saw their empire, the largest Christian university in the United States, crumble due to their involvement in a sexual scandal with former Miami pool attendant Giancarlo Granda. The documentary directed by Billy Corben, provides an in-depth look at the relationship between Giancarlo Granda and Jerry Falwell Jr. And his wife Becki, which spanned nearly a decade.

While it is not illegal to have extra-marital relations, Jerry Falwell Jr.'s position as the president of Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the United States, made his actions particularly controversial. Liberty University has a strict honor code that prohibits premarital sex, drinking alcohol, and other behaviors. Jerry and his wife Becki were seen as hiding behind a conservative, moral facade while engaging in behavior that went against the values they publicly espoused. This perceived hypocrisy is what made their actions so scandalous.

The documentary uses dramatic recreations, interviews, and footage from Giancarlo Granda's own cell phone to provide an in-depth look at a world of promiscuity, sex, power games, betrayal, politics, Hollywood actor, and Donald Trump.

At the end of the documentary left us feeling a sense of outrage towards the evangelical followers who allowed individuals like Jerry Falwell Jr. To amass wealth and power, even to the point of influencing the election of politicians to positions such as members of Congress, Senators, and even the President of the United States.

This movie actually makes me think a lot. We all expect people are good. The reality is, many people are evil, especially those powerful or rich people. They preach love and kindness while taking advantage of innocent people. The point I take away from this movie: never let people take advantage of you. Get even. I no longer believe the bad guy will somehow get punished by God or any other force of good. I personally have to fight like hell to get even. Those evil people don't have any conscience. Don't expect they will feel guilty and return your kindness. By the way, those who wrote bad reviews on this movie are brainwashed by right wing media.

After a straightforward start, the bizarre story of young man's entree into a lurid sexual ménage-à-trois involving a highly regarded religious educational administrator and his wife, this film begins to go elsewhere. By half-way in it inserts another larger agenda. Politics. Politics beyond the young man's manipulation at the hand of man who masqueraded as quite the opposite of the actions of his day job. Though shocking this isn't anything new as other religious figures have fell in similar ways. I can't recall any of those stories bringing in race and politics, certainly not to the degree here.

It takes the opportunity to divide all, meaning the rest of us not involved in the scandal, per personal positions on race, abortion, religion, and political preferences. These elements constantly hi-jacks the actual story. The real story should be of a powerful religious organization's leader and his wife's dark manipulations. Instead it takes this core faux pax as means to an end to divide and demoralize those right of center.

If this was told as a young man's sad choice based on a powerful religious institution's hypocritical leader's sordid manipulations, that would be quite enough. Instead, the film again uses Giancarlo - to promote more divisiveness between the races, the pro-lifers/pro-abortionists, and political left/right. It takes a decidedly leftist view which isn't Giancarlo's story at all. In the end, the real story is a sad fall of another religious figure and a young man whose poor choice caused great harm beyond these three participants.

Giancarlo's story is tragic enough without inserting all the divisive propaganda. In closing, for instance, I don't think past presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter have relevance to anything these three did behind closed doors. Do you?