It’s been a couple weeks since I watched the movie Into Temptation, and I’ve been postponing writing about it, as one postpones making a routine dentist appointment, or flipping one’s mattress. I feel about it as I do about some people—very nice people whose souls are in danger through loss of the content of their faith.

I first learned of Into Temptation because James Lileks’ little girl is an extra in one of the scenes (it was filmed here in Minneapolis), and he wrote about it over at the Bleat. Then I read some very enthusiastic reviews somewhere online, and decided it was worth checking out. Short review: It was a nice movie. It was a well-made movie, featuring some fine performances. It was also heterodox, targeted to adherents of the Oprah wing of Christianity.

I’m surprised it didn’t get wider distribution. It would seem to be the perfect film for mainline Christians.

Jeremy Sisto plays a young priest carrying on a vigorous, people-oriented ministry in an urban parish. One day he hears the confession of a prostitute (Kristin Chenoweth) who tells him she’s planning to commit suicide. Like the shepherd in the parable who leaves the ninety and nine sheep to go looking for the lost lamb, the priest becomes obsessed with finding this woman and stopping her. Which leads him into some places and activities that look questionable for a priest.

The film deals honestly and (I think) pretty realistically with the challenges and temptations of Christian ministry, particularly those of Catholic priests. I won’t give away the ending, but the lesson seems to be that no good deed is wasted, and that we must leave some things in God’s hands.

And that’s not bad.

It’s the little things that bugged me. It’s taken for granted that, as the hero’s best priestly friend comments, most of the rules of the church need to be changed. A young man struggling with homosexuality is told that God has no problem with his orientation. For a woman who can’t accept the “patriarchalism” of the church, he alters the words of the baptismal formula—which under my Lutheran understanding of the sacrament (at least), renders it totally void.

So the bottom line would seem to be that God only cares about what you do, not what you believe.

Which (correct me, Ori, if I’m wrong) would seem to qualify this character to be a certain variety of rabbi, rather than a Christian priest.

Cautions for language and adult situations.