The Book of Clarence (2024) is directed by Jeymes Samuel and stars LaKeith Stanfield, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop, Omar Sy, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Micheal Ward, Nicholas Pinnock, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Alfe Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, David Oyelowo, James McAvoy, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The film follows the story of a humble rule-breaker named Clarence (Stanfield). When Clarence finds himself in debt to another local, he hatches a plan to make the money he needs plus some. There is talk of a messiah named Jesus whose many followers shower him with lavish gifts and unwavering support. Seeing as he does not believe in a higher power, Clarence decides to become a messiah himself in an attempt to make a quick profit. As his followers increase, so does his notoriety. Although Clarence takes a mutually beneficial approach to his trickery, it soon becomes clear that there is a big difference between himself and a true Messiah. Clarence is forced to come to terms with his lies and hopefully redeem himself in the process. 

LaKeith Stanfield as Clancence is a bit disappointing. Stanfield likewise plays Clarence’s twin brother, Thomas, who is one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. It feels as if Stanfield takes one very effective character and splits it into two forgettable characters. Aspects I was looking for in one character would appear in the other and vice versa. It feels like a strange decision to have Stanfield play both characters. It does present a slight parallel between the two brothers, but it’s not worth sacrificing the quality of Stanfield’s performance as a whole.

The accompanying cast is strong, but few of them receive enough screen time to stand out. Omar Sy and RJ Cyler are fun as Clarence’s closest followers but their performances don’t bring a lot to the table. Alfre Woodard as the Virgin Mary is a fun little cameo role. She’s involved in a memorable funny scene in which Clarence is dumbfounded by the idea that anyone could have a child without having sex. She becomes infuriated because she thinks Clarence is calling her a promiscuous liar. Two other cameos that stand out are James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch. Granted, these may be effective simply because the actors are immediately recognizable. 

The film is an interesting specimen in the sense that it is a religious period piece accompanied by elements of comedy, blaxploitation, and true drama. Modern Hip Hop music is used for most of the film’s score, and it works most of the time. The only moments in which this music doesn’t work is when the modern music seems to be playing in the actual world of the film. For example, instead of the music playing over the scene, it would sometimes sound as if the music was coming from someone’s boom box a couple of blocks down the street. I’m not an expert on the kinds of technology that was around during the life of Jesus, but I know for a fact they didn’t have electronic music systems. 

The tone of the film is where things really stumble. It is never a full comedy or drama. This inability to choose a path/tone leads to a compromise where these elements are never as strong as they could be if they were on their own. With the addition of blaxploitation as well as modern elements, it results in the film feeling unhinged. I could never settle into a rhythm of how I should be reacting to certain scenes/elements because I was never really sure what kind of film I was watching. For example, the film holds a scene where characters smoke weed and inexplicably begin to float in the air. There is no explanation as to why they float. Also, nothing similarly fantastical happens throughout the film (excluding Jesus’ miracles). The film then has scenes of intense violence, racism, and cruelty. I appreciate the attempt to mix elements that are this far apart on the tonal scale, but it’s just jarring in execution. There are also a lot of modern references that just make the viewer ask, “And how do you know about that?” 

For most of its runtime, the film acts as an effective scathing of Christian hypocrisy. That being said, the film is also a powerful exploration of the power of faith/belief. In this sense, the film is balanced. What creates imbalance is the fact that the film also attempts to be a scathing of inequality/racism. Exploring both of these topics in one film is typically no issue, but The Book of Clarence fails because it is unable to tie them together in any substantive way. Likewise, the movie falls into the modern trap of ending its exploration of racism by lazily claiming “look what white people did? Don’t they suck?” There’s no inherent problem with forcing white people to swallow their history, but there is a problem with Hollywood thinking it isn’t a completely oversaturated message. Especially when it’s the most basic and lazy version of that message.  It doesn’t matter how true or important your message is if we’ve all heard it 300 times in the last couple of years. People will just be sick of it whether they agree or not. Because of this lack of focus, we don’t get a solid follow-through for any of the themes. 

The film is for the most part a fun watch due to its on-location sets and its ability to be consistently entertaining despite its flaws. Even when a scene makes little sense, the trade-off is usually that the scene is more fun. Although it comes at the sacrifice of the film’s comedic elements, the moral struggles that the main characters go through are emotionally effective in a very surprising sense. 

Throughout the film, Clarence states that knowledge is stronger than belief. By the end, the audience and Clarence are shown how knowledge and belief are more closely interconnected than they may have originally believed. 

Overall, this is a film that I feel was let down by its marketing. And to be fair, I don’t blame the studio on this one. It’s such a tonal mishmash that the studio could’ve marketed it six different ways and they still would’ve been telling the truth. Contrary to what the trailer presented, this film will play best for Christians who don’t mind their beliefs being lightly challenged in certain ways. That being said, they’re exactly the audience the movie will speak to by the end. More orthodox believers should stay away from this one. Even with its flaws, the film delivers an experience that is endlessly entertaining and occasionally ambitious. There’s a sense of originality that permeates through the entire production. If you’re easily offended in terms of religion, skip The Book of Clarence. Everyone else, check it out if you’re in the mood for something a bit different. B-