Rating: 
Summary: Dutcher's second effort is better!
Review: Having just slam-dunk Richard Dutcher's God's Army, I am now moving on to Brigham City which's his second movie. It pretty clear that he must have learned many lessons from his first movie since Brigham City proves to be a highly interesting movie and well crafted one.
Both acting and directing seem to be a major improvement over God's Army and this time around there seem to be a script that works and story that grabbed your interest. This is a LDS movie with a LDS theme but that doesn't interfered with the general story since the theme is reflected more in the characters of movie then the story. The main characters are Mormons and they behaved as such, just the way if the main characters were Catholics, they would behaved as such. The Mormon faith prevailed over the characters but it doesn't clutter the movie.
Personally, I think its the Mormon characters that bring an interesting perception to this serial killer story which otherwise would be relatively humdum in nature thanks to the familiar theme.
As a sheriff of a small town and a religous leader, the lead character, Wes Clayton have responsiblity and power most cops don't have. With such responsiblity and power, and a life at stake, his actions may appears reasonable even if they are technically illegal. (Can Wes be the kindlier gentler Dirty Harry??) As for the complaint the Wes can't walk so he can't be the sheriff, I think when he was injured, he was already a sheriff so he can be remain a sheriff as long as the town wants him.
Not being Mormon, I am not sure exactly all the identification procedures but my bet is, Matthew Brown's character simply slip through the crack. The guilt that Wes felt toward the end was the fact the he screwed up by NOT running Brown's character fingerprint as he was supposed to, which allowed him to slip through the crack, a human error of colossal level but yet forgiving one considering the informal atmosphere of an informal small town where everyone is so laid back.
On the few negative sides, I thought the director's used of his "red herring" proves to be very clumsy and heavy handed. I was bit surprised how casual the sheriff was with killer as the latter was assembling his gun. All the sheriff have to do take a single piece to prevent the gun from being operational but he sat there doing nothing but talk. Maybe the proper procedure would have been is wait until Brown's character show up for work the next day and arrest him there with the help from that FBI lady friend.
Intriguing story about crime spree, a human mistake and forgiveness. People shouldn't have any problems with a LDS theme movie no more then they would with a Catholic theme movies. In the end, its the story, script and acting that carries the day. In Brigham City, its a good film.
Rating: 
Summary: Should've been titled MORMON City
Review: I stumbled upon this DVD at my local video store, mixed in with all the dramas. Little did I know what I was renting. This DVD spends more time preaching than it does telling a story. As far as I'm concerned, this should've been CLEARLY LABELED as a religious film so unsuspecting agnostics like myself don't waste their hard-earned money on it. I guess the Mormons have found yet another way to invade my privacy and preach to me. Clever; I'll give them that! But if they're trying to convert me, this wasn't the way to go about it. It just proved once again how judgemental devout Mormons truly are, and how naive to the real world they tend to be. As for the movie itself, it was very disappointing; I had a buck-99 coupon on the rental and still feel ripped off. While the plotline is acceptable, the acting is very stilted and none of the characters really come across as believable. To me, the killer was pretty much telegraphed as one of three characters and the ending wasn't much of a surprise because he was one of my three suspects. I suppose if you're one of the mindless sheep who believe anyone that shares your religious beliefs should be praised no matter how shoddy a job they do, then fine...rate this crapola five stars. As a movie buff who doesn't give a hoot about religious messages in films, just how good the movie is, this one deserves one star only...and I'm being gracious there.
Rating:
Summary: Good mystery, good plot, one fatal flaw.
Review: At first glance, I had zero interest in seeing the film until a friend recommended it to me. Hey, since there'll be food at her place, I said yes. I really liked it! It had me going to the end! Albeit, not everyone will entirely understand the internal working of a small Moromon community but I thought the director gave us a good idea of it! And lets face it, it doesn't need to be a Mormon town--it's like any small town with its quirks, and dynamics, where everyone wears many hats! I liked the fact that I recognized no one save Wilford Brimly. Very refreshing! The sheriff/Bishop is a little low-keyed but hey, he's a widower with a murder on his hands. All-in-all a great 'indie' movie by director/writer/actor Dutcher--a one-man-show. I'm buying this one for Christmas!
Rating:
Summary: The Truth be Told
Review: Too many Mormon viewers are too eager to be pleased by the new crop of B films to hit the LDS market. I've have grown up in a home where both Mormonism and film were a way of life. I was excited by the prospect of the two overlapping with Dutcher's release of God's Army (his first dissapointment) and was again let down with Brigham City. I mean no offense to Dutcher or his team but he needs to research his characters. Not only is his Sherrif chacracter so inept that he oversteps the bounds of the inalienable rights listed at the VERY BEGINNING of the Constitution, he makes judgements concerning the murderer before he knows anything about the murderer. Oh wait. He knows that he's killed some people... Hmm... Let's talk about story-telling. Usually in order to keep an audience's attention you must do something new... Other than the characters being over-trusting, stereotypical, small-town Mormons, there was nothing new done here. Except for the whole alienating non-Mormons thing... forgot about that one. As a Mormon who is inherently a little critical I found this film to be so full of holes and lacking in just about every way that I was left feeling insulted. Is it wrong as an aspiring film-maker to expect the best from people who beat me and my talented friends out for funding? I'm not just an overly-sensitive LDS guy who found Dutcher's use of the Sacrament shocking. I thought his portrayal of LDS people as inherently blind lemmings was pretty degrading to the image of LDS people as a whole. Too often we forget that film is an art. Sure it's been adulterated by Hollywood into a media marketing machine, but is it too much to ask for LDS directors to make films with tact? You don't need a lot of money to write a script; that's free. If you must, waste your time, watch this movie and prove me wrong. I just know that too many people give LDS guys who can't cut it too much credit because their LDS too.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit too dark for me.
Review: I really didn't like this movie. It was just too dark for me. But, if you like a good murder mystery, you may enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Resident's Point of View
Review: As a mormon and a resident of Brigham City, I loved this movie. The acting was great, and there are a few shortcomings in the writing, but you would never notice them unless you were looking for faults. The movie is very accurate to the traditions of Brigham City and it's large mormon population. The suspenseful writing keeps you on the edge of your seat and the surprise twist at the end is great. Dutcher directing and acting in this film. This movie was the greatest thing that ever happenend to this small mormon town smack dab in the middle of no where.
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