Rating: 
Summary: Ah, yeah, right
Review: I'm a Mormon. I liked God's Army. I live in small town Utah.
That being said, let me tell you what my thoughts were on Brigham City.
This movie had its heart in the right place, but it couldn't overcome the writer's shortcomings. It's like he wrote this movie with absolutely no research. If I were a small town cop, I'd be offended by this movie.
It portrays small town police as naive and unwilling to get involved with investigations. When they do finally decide to get involved, after two people have been murdered, they do the stupidest things I've ever seen. These are the worst cops ever! We find out early on that the "sheriff" couldn't pass a POST exam because first he can't run, second he can't shoot. In the state of Utah, you have to be POST certified to be a sheriff or any type of law officer.
These cops apparently never had POST or any other training. At one point they are responding to a dead body and the sheriff wants to keep it quiet, so the police show up with sirens and lights blaring. Why do they need the sirens on? The person is already dead. Things like this don't bother the cops of Brigham City. They break more rules in the first half of this movie than in all of the Lethal Weapon films combined. Before they investigate, the Aaronic Priesthood holders (for you none-Mormons, it's basically all the boy scout-aged boys) are called up to distribute a police flyer.
Then the investigation begins, but instead of investigating, the police go to a bar, life finger prints off everyone in town who drinks and run them through the FBI computer. How many things are fundamentally wrong with this? Anyway, when that fails, and the body count continues to rise, they call all the Elders and High Priest (for the non-mormons, these are the men of the ward) to do a door-to-door search of the entire town. This leads to a scene where a man's porno collection is found. They arrest him based on his VHS collection and even though they don't have anything to hold him on, they hold him anyway. They do all this without a warrant. Even if they found the body of the girl they were looking for, it wouldn't matter because they obtained the information illegally, the court would have no choice but the throw out the case and the killer would walk free. But the heroes of our story can't be bothered with details like that.
There is some skill in the making of the film with some really suspenseful moments, but it feels like it was written by an eighth grade English student. It has a surprise plot twist I guessed early on.
One of the characters tells the sheriff, "You're a good man." They should have said, "You're a good man, and maybe even a good bishop, but you sir are a really terrible police officer."
Ultimately, this movie is as dumb as anything Hollywood puts out, but without any of the humor. Not one light, humorous moment. A movie with cops this feeble-minded needs to lighten up and not take itself so seriously!
Rating: 
Summary: Brigham City
Review: Brigham City, a much anticipated and acclaimed independent film, truly appealed to my inner detective, being at once dark and film noirish and presenting a view of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' process of repentance and forgiveness. The completely unexpected plot twist was certainly a bonus. This film is great for families and the future of Richard Dutcher as an actor, writer and producer is more solid than ever with the release of this great film.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspense mystery with a hint of Hitchcock
Review: I found the movie a little difficult to get into in the first 20 minutes or so. My original impression is that the acting was a little stiff and not much to grip me into the story. However, as it unfolded (like a good mystery should), I found myself gravitating to the story, the characters and the true suspense. In a old-style Hitchcock way, the understand and sometimes non-existent soundtrack gave me no clues as to who the real murderer was. Really, the only time I remember receiving those audio clues was for the patsy suspected killer and when a murder had occurred. In the end, I was completely moved by the story, and bought into the characters. Top that off with it being a clean movie and I would consider adding that to my collection.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie !
Review: Wow! What a great movie! Brigham City is an intense who-dunnit with strong spirtual overtones. I was on the edge of my seat. I saw a room full of people swelled with tears at the end of the film. This film truly captures the battle between the naive innocense of rural america and the encrouchment of the truly evil modern world. The characters are well developed and the plot has some ingenious twists. This is a movie worth keeping.
Rating: 
Summary: A good whodunnit
Review: Having lived in a small mormon community on the I-15 corridor, I was intrigued by how well this film captures the essence of these small towns. I felt that Dutcher's portrayal of the reserved soft-spoken bishop/sheriff was right on the money.The film captures all the suspense of modern "blood and guts" thrillers without indulging in a lot of gore. The violent undertones it generates are highlighted and complimented by a sensitive treatment of the effect the crimes have on the people in this small community. I felt that the length of the film was appropriate, however, the pacing seemed a little off at times. And, given the length, I would have liked to have seen a little deeper character development--perhaps because I found the characters so intriguing. I also felt that some of the actions taken by Dutcher's character were a shade far-fetched, particularly as the sheriff gets more and more desperate to find the killer. In spite of its flaws, I would recommend this film to anybody that enjoys a good whodunnit. It will keep you on your toes!
Rating:
Summary: Brigham's City is a major DUD !
Review: I was extremely disappointed in Brigham's City, to say it kindly. The story line was slow, unrealistic, and extremely boring. We were made to endure almost 3 hours of monotone and expressionless acting, especially from Dutcher's character which constituted the most unconvincing performance in modern film history. His character was so poorly acted (and written), that it was difficult to relate to his character. I secretly hoped that he would be the next serial victim. No comic relief, little meaningful character development, and monotone and expressionless acting made this film very hard to sit through. On a technical note I believe the lesson to be learned on this film is to NOT entrust the writing, directing, and principle acting to one single person. Also, the editing could have been much tighter, speeding the progression of the film drastically. This should have been only a 2 hour film at the most. I wonder if Mr. Dutcher was the editor too.... Very poor moviemaking across the board! A major disappointment! Very Uninspiring!
Rating: 
Summary: Better than "God's Army," but...
Review: Personally I found this movie's twist ending rather unsatisfying. With a great thriller, clues are given out along the way, though you may not recognize them until the end (such as in "The Sixth Sense"). This movie, however, throws out nothing but red herrings, then tries to wrap it up by selecting the least-likely person as the killer. Of course it came as a surprise -- there were no clues. Not great writing in my opinion. But, the scariest part of this movie was its portrayal of a Mormon church-state and its complete distain for civil liberties. The sheriff is called "bishop" more often than "sheriff." When he rallies the town's citizens, the sheriff jumps into "church mode" and calls upon the church brethren and the Aaronic priesthood boys. The only family to object to an illegal search and seizure is vilified. The town's only bar is coerced into illicitly collecting the fingerprints of all the undesirables (i.e., non-Mormons). Truly frightening stuff! And I must object to the assertion by others that a knowledge of the LDS culture is not required. Unless the viewer understands the Mormons' view of the implications of "not partaking of the sacrament," the whole emotional impact of the finale is lost. The non-Mormon friends that viewed this movie with me didn't understand what the big deal was. To its credit, the look and feel of this movie is wonderful. The Wasatch mountains have never looked better, and the town really does "feel" like a typical small Utah Mormon community. In addition, it introduces some interesting ideas such as the implications of the loss of innocence. "Pleasantville" also dealt with this but with a very different conclusion. Whereas "Pleasantville" asserted that change (though difficult and uncomfortable), has a positive effect, "Brigham City" concludes that it can do nothing but devastate. A rather pessimistic view, I thought.
Rating:
Summary: A "Wicked" Good Flick
Review: I'm a Mormon and a huge fan of suspense thrillers and this film was right up my alley, being a murder mystery and a product of Zion Films. In the small Mormon town of Brigham City, Richard Dutcher and his missionary companion, Mathew Brown, from God's Army, return to play companion officers of the law. However, I was so drawn into the movie early on, I never found myself making comparisons to the first film. Probably because I was so wrapped up, not only in the "who dunnit" aspect of the film, but Dutcher's flawed yet basically good character and in the moral delemma created by having Dutcher being a bishop of the predominantly Mormon town as well as the sheriff. The Sheriff/Bishop means only well and appears to be the shephard keeping watch over his flock, which makes it harder to watch as he inadvertantly helps the murderer violate the town as he allows prejudice and distrust to mar his investigation. The bishop/sheriff eventually finds the killer but only after he fails in many respects as the town's protector. The story is heart-breaking and edifying at the same time as the bishop discovers his short comings as he attempts to serve the town and allows evil's shadow to be cast over the once innocent town. Yet, by the end, the Gospel become the town's much needed healing salve after the murderer is discovered and the town is again safe from him. I'd caution that this film is appropriately rated PG-13, but it does not have gratuitous violence and doesn't have a single cuss word or sex scene. It's strongly recommended to all.
Rating:
Summary: non-mormon perspective
Review: After reading the national reviews for Brigham City I purchased the DVD in hopes it would be at least mildly entertaining. I was pleasantly surprised to be watching a sophisticated, tight, well acted and ingeniously directed murder mystery that would have made Hitchcock proud. Aside from the few gratuitous inclusions of Mormon trumpeting, this film rises above to evoke a fear that touches its audience. Kudos Mr Dutcher, you are a true master of your craft. I highly recommend this film to murder mystery fans and fans of fine filmmaking
Rating:
Summary: excellent thriller
Review: Whew, this was a good one. It definitely kept me guessing up to the end. It was great to be able to enjoy a thriller/mystery without the gratuitous sex and language that normally permeates many films today. Hoorah Mr. Dutcher.
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