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In Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., Adamma Ebo’s sharply acted but slightly soft-touched religious satire, a disgraced power couple quixotically quests for a brand refresh. Years ago, Lee-Curtis and Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown) were the leaders of the Wander to Greater Paths Baptist Church, a congregation so popping that, at its peak, it drew in a whopping 25,000 members and amassed the kind of wealth that could literally clear the country’s population of all its debt. But just when it seemed like the Childs’ finally reached the proverbial top, everything beneath them crumbled with several sexual-misconduct allegations from younger male congregants lobbed at Lee-Curtis. Immediately, all but less than a handful of the Childs’ followers flocked over to a neighboring, far-humbler church led by another couple (Nicole Beharie and Conphidance). Trinitie, despite it all, continues standing by her man.

You’ll see that support increasingly wearing Trinitie down in the course of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. The movie begins a little after Lee-Curtis, too obsessed with image-maintenance to have time for even the measliest attempts at self-reflection, has hired an acclaimed documentarian named Anita to capture what he envisions to be a moving redemption story. He and Trinitie, he believes, will now have a foolproof venue through which to clear up any “misconceptions” surrounding their sullied name. And they’ll also be able to remind viewers — that is if any decide it’s worth it to tune in — what made them worth exalting to begin with. Ideally, the documentary will culminate in a triumphant return: the Childs’ plan to reopen their sitting-empty church Easter Sunday — a month from when shooting begins. “I’m Rocky up in this fight,” Lee-Curtis says of his comeback over breakfast. “But Rocky didn’t win,” Trinitie accurately counters. 

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