Believe Me

What happens when four good ol’ boys from Austin discover that their Animal House lifestyle is on the verge of economic collapse? If they’re smart, they’ll bring out their artificially worn-in Bibles, join a church and start stealing from the donation plate. At least that’s what they do in Believe Me.
Believe Me is the first narrative feature by Will Bakke and Michael B. Allen. The filmmaking duo’s previous two projects have been documentaries (not so coincidentally, given the premise detailed above, titled One Nation Under God and Beware of Christians). Their latest effort is not unenjoyable. Certain aspects really shine—the casting, in particular. Bakke’s actors get away with murder, due mostly to their natural charm.
This is both a blessing and a curse for the movie. Bakke and Allen seem to be under the impression that audiences will sympathize with their characters just because they have nice smiles and look like they wandered out of a J. Crew catalog.
The film opens on a shot of frat king Sam (Alex Russell), asleep in his bed. A pledge hovers next to him, beeping like an alarm clock. Sam awakens and slaps the pledge’s face. No biggie. Sometimes you just gotta hit the snooze button.
In the next scene, Sam and his frat brothers lord over a group of pledges. The four men make a whole morning out of abusing the underclassmen and lecturing them on the reasons to lie during an upcoming hazing investigation. This is supposed to be funny.
Anyway, in order to pay off some outstanding debts, the guys scheme to dupe folks of faith, holding a fundraiser to benefit a fake charity organization. A local mega-church called Cross Country takes note and offers them $15,000 to tour the country preaching the word of God. “Christians want the emotional high of giving. We’re just going to supply that demand, in exchange for a small fee,” Sam explains to his fellow con artists, eyeing the lucrative opportunity.