Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage (2010) User Reviews

The dramatic entanglements of faith, fraud and minimum wage in an interesting enough tale

[napierslogs · 6/10 · 15 July 2011]

Nately, Nova Scotia is the type of small, quirky fictional town that small, quirky Canadian films are set in. All of the residents are religious, so much so that they don't like the new, young minster since his sermons are unorthodox. They especially don't like Casey since she's a very proud non-denominational atheist and she throws this in their faces.

Casey is also the type of character that all these films have: the smart, independent teenage rebel. The somewhat interesting new dimension that Casey has is that she's only a rebel because she's trying to fill the shoes of her tragedy-ridden sister. She's also a caring soul in her heart because she's using her minimum wage job at Krowne Donuts to pay the bills for her grief-stricken father (Callum Keith Rennie).

The fraud part, a nice combination of faith and minimum wage, gets introduced early when Casey throws a cup of coffee at the wall and decides that it looks like Jesus Christ. She uses this to her financial benefit as the many faithful followers are sure to pray wherever they think God is. They go where He goes.

Most of this description makes it sound like a quirky comedy, but "Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage" decided to take the drama route as we follow Casey as she sees how her actions affect those around her. I think I would have liked it more as a comedy, but it is still a well written film that we care about the characters.

This is an independent, low budget Canadian film, one that is incredibly lucky to get Callum Keith Rennie since the other unknown actors are generally unknown for a reason. Films like this have very little to use to their advantage, except story. More often than not, for a movie like this to get made, it needs to be original. And oddly enough, that's where "Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage" fails. Stories about finding images of Christ on a wall and using that for personal reasons have been done many times before.

Every aspect of this film was done well enough—in particular, the struggles of the young minister were quite effective and Andrew Bush could potentially become a promising actor. Inventive twists and turns to the story never came but it is good enough to keep me interested.

Available on Hulu and worth checking out

[mference123 · 7/10 · 5 December 2015]

This is a Christmas movie worth checking out.

I was afraid it was a Hallmark special, but it is anything but. It walks a tight line between skewering Christian hypocrisy and showing that faith can give you strength.

The lead actress and her father were totally believable. Uncle Bob is a genuinely disturbing and all too realistic villain.

Good acting and some interesting visuals. The cameos as the "site of the miracle" were hilarious, and touching. The scene where Uncle Bob shows his true colors followed immediately with the dunk Satan side show attraction made me laugh.

Worth a watch.

Cute on the surface, but ugly in essence

[tallard · 3/10 · 23 January 2013]

This film is an example of what goes wrong when a society becomes tolerant of intolerance. It leads to moronic behaviours, institutional abuse, and poor unoriginal film-making passing itself off as something cute and original, because the institutions funding these films need to justify their belief systems.

Sad sad sad.

This could have been a good film, the story's potential was there, if the film-makers had just demonstrated some guts and originality, to step out of the bounds of group think and say something thoughtful. But no, all it had to say was platitudes.

There are days when the anglo-Canadian film industry is just depressing beyond belief, making films for the sheer sake of making a film, without any intent to have any impact in anyone's life.

small town ..big God..

[arthurrcanning · 10/10 · 15 December 2010]

A NEW Christmas Story: I liked this movie a lot. Great little story about a religious hoax in a little Canadian town. Some really solid performances anchor a charming equation between a clever young girl, her dad, her boss, and her fella... I enjoyed the Stephen King-esquire villainy of "Uncle Bob"(having done retail in my younger years) and the unpredictability of the rest of the characters - they're painted as "stereotypes" on first glance 'til they speak and act like very real humans. Good writing and good pacing lead you to an ending you can't see coming - just like life. Callum Keith Rennie has become one of my favourite actors(Californication - c'mon..). He plays a man I've met many times ...clinging to old thoughts ...the past, and he is great. Martha MacIssac holds the film together with her Casey McMullen ...a consistent and smart performance, but Ricky Mabe kinda stole the show for me ...a pitch-perfect performance of that sensitive jock - a nice reminder that young or old - everyone stands for something. Andy Bush is really good and Matt Amyotte is hilarious. Do yourself a favour and watch this movie... Show a little faith - it's well worth it.

Bill Maher would love this movie

[ezriderz · 8/10 · 9 December 2011]

I really liked this movie. Typical Canadian tongue-in-cheek skepticism of fundamental Christianity with just a twinge of doubt. It flowed nicely and held my interest with a slight smile throughout. True fundamental Christians will probably not like this movie since it does not adhere to their strict party line, but rather is about an agnostic if not atheistic protagonist.

My only mild criticism is the ending where Casey is stoned by the townspeople, and is picked up and escorted away by Jansen ("Hockey") and the pastor. The next scene seems to be Casey and her Father talking about sister Meg leaving (dying) of her own choice, and they seemed to think everything would work out. They ignore the fact that she has no job, he has no place to sell his Christmas trees, her friend the pastor is leaving town, and nobody else other than Hockey likes her any more for her heresy. How they think they will be able to survive in that town is beyond me.

This is a high quality movie.

[thelimerickking · 8/10 · 17 September 2016]

Faith Fraud and Minimum wage is a film that doesn't so much dare to be innovative it dares to be good. It hits all the right spots. An engaging screenplay, well designed characters played by solid actors giving convincing performances and a slow burn pace which allows you to take it all in all add up to an enjoyable experience.

The movies plot examines faith in its various forms and what actions people are willing to take based on faith. It ends with our protagonist making a huge leap of faith in doing what she wanted to do interpreting events in a way which supported her wish. The underlying concept that faith comforts people no matter what that faith is in, even if it's a hoax.

So, if you're in the mood for a quirky, smart, well performed movie, I would highly recommend Faith, Fraud and Minumum Wage.

Beautiful

[wqxyzcj · 9/10 · 24 December 2015]

*Possible spoilers* In my opinion, the most impressive part about this movie is Marta MacIsaac's portrayal of Casey McMullen, especially in the terms of the tone of her voice and the facial expressions. Over the course of the movie, you can pretty much see the way she breaks under pressure for the first time, quietly, maybe not so severely, and creates the fraud that basically gets the plot going, and she later, gradually, starts seeing the consequences of her actions. She gets to feel some hope and joy that everyone talks about, but she knows that what people perceive as the cause of that is false, that what they believe in is false, artificial, because she created it.

The closest to the "most impressive thing" is the camera work and the filter. The movie is filled with mostly light blue and white colors. That creates some Christmas mood while still making the movie tense in many ways. (You can see the similar camera work in 2004 movie "The Woodsman".) The fog is also pretty visible in some part of the film. There is snow, of course, but not too much of it, and it doesn't play an important part in the story. In most of the outdoor scenes, you can actually see characters (especially Casey and Jansen) being very pink in the face and breathing heavily, as it often happens when the person is outside during a cold water for some time. That makes the movie and characters feel even more natural and realistic. That is probably due to most of the movie being filmed on real locations in Nova Scotia, not in the movie studio.

Casey's life with her sister before the accident isn't featured in actual flashbacks, but in the home videos made shortly prior to the accident. I think that was a nice touch, having more of a "family memories" feel, making everything even more sad/realistic, and it didn't interfere with the camera work or the modest feel of the movie like the actual flashbacks might have.

There are also some great subtle touches that you probably wouldn't notice at first: such as, in a nor to director Jason Eisener, Casey can be seen wearing a "Treevenge" pin on her coat. Also, we don't see the face of the Jesus until the very end, before one of the workers stars cleaning it up: of course, it doesn't look like Jesus at all, which makes the town people's reaction to the fraud even more shocking.

Make no mistake, the movie has some funny parts too: Casey telling the school bully off at the beginning and the semi-comic scene at the end.

The complaints I have about the movie is that it could have used more light hearted moments and that one of the scenes near the end seemed too brutal/harsh (you'll know when you watch it). Also, some minor characters (employees at the garden mall) could have been developed better.

"Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage" is not a typical Christmas movie. It is not a typical teenage movie either. It definitely isn't comedy, barely even comedy-drama. But it is drama genre at it's best (Christmas drama if you wish) and it does a great job with getting into the head of a troubled teenage girl and, in some ways, that whole little community, actually.

In Christmas time, when it is easy to forget about all the "bad things" and "bad time", "Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage" offers a new perspective on that beloved time of year, but it never denies the most important thing: hope. Today, when, sadly, most of Christmas movies are commercial comedies with cheap jokes and many teenage movies basically just feature young people doing "modern" things without even trying to develop the characters, "Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage" deserves at least some mild appreciation.

Still, I think that, to the majority of people, it is one of the movies that you either love or hate. But give it a chance: if you happen to like it, it is definitely a heart winning movie. It may not be easy to find on DVD, but that only makes it more enjoyable, in my opinion: a little thing that not many people appreciate, but you do, like your own personal security blanket or that beautiful part of the forest nobody else from the school bothers to go too. So take a deep breath, let your heart hold fast, and go down that path.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!