Super Frat

Wow, I never imagined that  a French movie about monks in Algeria would be boring.  No, wait, that’s not right.  I totally DID expect it to be boring, why the Hell did I go see this?  Watching this movie was like going to church.  But at least at church, I don’t have to pay outrageous prices for the beverages.

Oh, right, the Missus talked me into going to see this.  It was either that or “Win-Win” with Paul Giamatti and she figured that would be in the theaters a while.  Other than us and ONE other person, no one came out for this one and after watching it, I totally see why.

This is based on a true story about a group of monks living in impoverished Algeria in 1996.  Jihadis show up and start attacking the local populace, so its a drama about the monks deciding whether or not to stay.  The problem is, you don’t really learn much about the monks.  They chant a lot, pray a lot, walk around Algeria a lot and help people.

You get a lot of time to think in a movie like this because nothing happens through most of the movie.  It was then I noticed that the doctor monk looked really familiar.  Couldn’t place him at the time, but going to the IMDB, I found that he also played Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker.  If I had known that, the movie would’ve been marginally funnier.

Another actor I recognized was French policeman from Taken.  Remember the scene where Liam Neeson shoots that dude’s wife?  He’s one of the monks.  Again, had to look it up.  Still, it says something about a movie when you’re thinking about that instead of what’s going on.

Thankfully, there is no dudity, which was something I half expected from a foreign film.  Definitely no hot chicks here.  The story is just not that compelling and comes off as a news story.  I couldn’t wait for the credits to roll.

It’s not a poorly made movie.  I mean, the actors are good.  The cinematography is nice.  It’s just not a gripping movie for such an important subject.  Maybe they needed one of the monks to kick ass.  I’ll bet the Buddhist monks would’nt’ve gone down without a fight!

I give Of Gods and Men 2 out of 10 keggers.  Oy.  If you need some sleep or love chanting monks, enjoy.  This is the kind of movie I like to see about monks.