The comedy "Moms' Night Out" has received a solid 3.5 stars from Faith Based Consumer, a strong indication that the film will resonate with Christian viewers.
The organization, which uses five specific criteria to measure the compatibility of entertainment products for Christian audiences, says they are excited to see a film depicting Christians in a positive light.
"Given how Mom's Night Out esteems motherhood in a humorous and highly relatable way, we believe Faith Driven Consumers will likely enjoy it and urge their friends to see it as well," said Chris Stone, Certified Brand Strategist and Founder of Faith Driven Consumer. "We commend Hollywood making a faith-compatible comedy that reaches beyond the faith-driven niche to the broader culture and believe this film will perform strongly at the box office."
Jon Erwin, one of the producers of the film, says that one of the goals in creating the movie was to encourage Christian moviegoers who are forced to avoid most comedies due to R ratings.
I don't know what has happened in the genre of comedy over the last five six years, but it's in the gutter," says Erwin, citing the film "Neighbors" which has received a hard "R" rating for graphic nudity and language. "What we're trying to do is bring it out of the gutter and say it's okay to laugh and not have to sacrifice your values; you can laugh at a comedy and not have to feel like you need to take a shower after the movie."
Jon says that following a screening of "Moms' Night Out" to a mostly secular audience, he was encouraged by the large amounts of viewers who thanked him for creating a wholesome film.
"I think trust is a big issue right now in movies. There's a huge audience of people that don't know who to trust because they don't know what's going to be in a movie. And we've all sat through a movie where we're like "will this offend me, will this offend my wife? Am I going to have to cover my kid's eyes? We're trying to police the film and we can't really enjoy it. So what we want to do is to create trustworthy entertainment, where you can take anyone to a movie and not have them be offended," he continued.
"Moms' Night Out" is the latest of faith-based films this year. Previous releases include "God's Not Dead," "Son of God" and "Heaven is for Real"-all of which have seen significant box office return.
Andy Erwin, who produced "Mom's Night Out" along with his brother, says the success of faith-based films this year proves moviegoers thirst for clean movies.
"There is a hungry, underserved audience there that desires good, quality entertainment but doesn't want to be offended and they want see their values represented well," Andy stated in an interview. "I think there's a group of people that are putting out great content and as a result we are reaping great rewards. I think it's an exciting time to be a Christian in entertainment and I am happy to be part of that conversation."
