UPDATED REVIEW: The Singles Ward was non-stop laughs! Kurt Hale hit a home run in his first at-bat in making a film about the Latter-day Saint culture. While taking their faith seriously - as they should, all too often, members of the Church (more commonly referred to as 'Mormons') take themselves far too seriously, and this film is the perfect remedy for that. Poking fun at the idiosyncrasies without being blasphemous, those of us who have done time in a singles ward can easily understand what Jonathan Jordan's character is going through.
Having done time in a singles ward myself once upon a time, I was able to easily identify with what a lot of what Jonathan went through. I must admit that as cute as I found Cammie Giles (Connie Young), I found her character extremely unlikeable in that she was WAY TOO INTENSE, as if she was going to break down and cry if the attendance at the ward party was less than 100%. There is a difference between fulfilling your call well, but Cammie was over the top, to say the least! Not my kind of gal by any stretch! Super cute on the outside, but way too many flaws on the inside to have any remote long-range potential beyond friends, not to mention some of those singles in the ward were prime candidates for the long-term psychiatric wing at Bellvue...
The cameo appearances by Lavell Edwards, Danny Ainge, Thurl Bailey and others were well placed (unlike The R.M.), and were a lot of fun to watch. It was well-written, produced and assembled with a good cast who worked well with each other in taking a light-hearted, yet honest look at what many singles go through at that often difficult time in their lives, especially when senior Church leaders - usually parents, older siblings, bishops and stake presidents - making the push for them to make a mad rush to the altar. Jonathan felt that way, and he wound up BACK in a singles ward at the beginning of the film.
A delight to watch and a welcome addition to my film library, The Singles Ward is a must-watch for all film fans of any, or even no religious persuasion.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 10/10. ***
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