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The Catechism Cataclysm

The Catechism Cataclysm (2011)

tomatometer

40

Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

audience

48

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 130

My Rating

Movie Info

Storytelling in all its forms is skewered in The Catechism Cataclysm. In this divinely bizarre and funny tale, wild characters infuse stories within stories until the lines between the Bible, Mark Twain, and campfire tales are hilariously blurred. Father Billy (Steve Little), an eccentric young priest, is forced to take asabbatical by his superiors when he is discovered telling inappropriate parables to his flock. Billy tracks down his high-school idol Robbie (Robert Longstreet), who

Unrated, 1 hr. 21 min.

Comedy

Todd Rohal

Feb 27, 2012

$1.9k

IFC Films

The Catechism Cataclysm Trailer & Photos

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More Trailers and Videos (1)

Cast

Critic Reviews for The Catechism Cataclysm

All Critics (17) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (9)

A grating and witless would-be spoof of religion, male-bonding and, it seems, horror movies.

November 3, 2011 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Gary Goldstein
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

William and Robbie's adventure has a shaggy-dog charm that's hard to resist.

October 20, 2011 Full Review Source: NPR | Comment
Scott Tobias
NPR
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Weird and well-acted...

October 18, 2011 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
Paul Brunick
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Taking the notion of toilet humor literally but incapable of delivering its promised religious satire, The Catechism Cataclysm is more muddled than its tongue-twister title.

October 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Nick Schager
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It seems hopelessly without a point - unless the point has something to do with dropping a Bible into a dirty toilet.

April 7, 2011 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | Comment
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a very dumb comedy made by very smart folks.

February 9, 2012 Full Review Source: Cinematical | Comment
John Gholson
Cinematical

A lot of it is tedious and directionless.

January 4, 2012 Full Review Source: Ebert Presents At The Movies | Comment
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Ebert Presents At The Movies Source: Ebert Presents At The Movies

As a professional preacher, I could appreciate (the film) to some degree as a satiric take on storytelling in both religious and secular circles. Sorry to say, that's about as far as my appreciation goes.

November 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Dearest | Comment
Fr. Chris Carpenter
Movie Dearest

A priest and a washed-up heavy metal drummer step into a boat. . . . This isn't the start of a joke, but rather the plot of Todd Rohal's strange IFC film.

November 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | Comment
Boston Phoenix

Even after the movie takes its turn for the surreal, it remains rooted in the reactions of slack-faced good guy Little and the gruff-but-loveable Longstreet.

October 20, 2011 Full Review Source: AV Club | Comment
Noel Murray
AV Club

Such detours into psychotronic oddity for its own sake can make even a 75-minute running time feel like an eternity.

October 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Time Out New York | Comment
David Fear
Time Out New York

It's essentially a hilariously brazen lark, which is reason enough to embrace it.

October 17, 2011 Full Review Source: indieWIRE | Comment
Eric Kohn
indieWIRE

While the ending to any shaggy-dog story is supposed to be irrelevant, The Catechism Cataclysm's capper is particularly enervating.

October 16, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Simon Abrams
Slant Magazine

rather than use this premise as a set up for bible satire, the film relies on diarrhea jokes and uninspired buddy-bonding to carry us through an ill-plotted tale of damnation and redemption

June 20, 2011 Full Review Source: New York Press | Comment
Leslie Stonebraker
New York Press

Watching the lazy surreal odyssey unfold, you might be tempted to see The Catechism Cataclysm as a metaphor about telling a story, or about the futility of telling a story.

April 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Screen International | Comment
David D'Arcy
Screen International

Catechism Cataclysm ain't perfect, but people in the, um, right frame of mind will definitely have a big, dopey grin on their face.

February 1, 2011 Full Review Source: UGO | Comment
Jordan Hoffman
UGO
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Audience Reviews for The Catechism Cataclysm

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The Catechism Cataclysm starts out promising to be one of the great comic masterpieces of our time. Perfect comic acting and comic timing, not to mention some pretty darn good comic writing, had me super excited. Unfortunately, before the movie is over, it spirals into total lazy randomness, squandering its potential.

June 13, 2011
Kyle F.
Kyle Fowler

Super Reviewer

My brain is a gloppy-glue of fuck-sauce after watching The Catechism Cataclysm. Currently searching for the irony, though I'm vastly aware the filmmakers doused it all in such.

May 9, 2012
Bobby Putka
Bobby Putka

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