“Once I was a Beehive” is heartwarming fun without the cheese
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I don’t like religious movies. Most of them come off as cheesy and insincere. A religious movie about a bunch of teenage girls is about as appealing to me as being strapped to a chair and being forced to listen to Taylor Swift’s entire back catalog at gunpoint. So when I tell you that “Once I was a Beehive” is a truly enjoyable movie and well worth your time, you take that to the bank.
”Beehive” tells the story of Lane Speer (Paris Warner), a teenage girl whose world gets shattered when her father dies. She is still reeling when her mom marries a “cheesy Mormon guy” named Tristan. Even his name is cheesy. Soon, Lane finds herself camping in the mountains with a whole gaggle of LDS girls, having a life-altering adventure.
The first thing you have to know about “Beehive” is that it’s funny, and the laughs come naturally. You don’t have characters engaging in absurd antics, hoping to milk laughs from the audience. The laughs come out of the characters and the way they work off one another. That’s good because you feel like you actually get to know and like these characters.
The second thing you need to know is the acting is fantastic, especially considering how young some of there girls are. I was particularly impressed by Warner, who is completely convincing as a girl rebuilding herself after a tragedy, and Mila Smith, whose character gives the movie its heart. Lisa Clark’s Sister Carrington is so intense, it’s kind of scary, which means she’s knocked it out of the park.
Bringing it all together is writer/director Maclain Nelson. Nelson has a big job directing a plethora of characters and giving each of them time to shine. He pulls it off beautifully. His script is funny, but it also provides for memorable characters and emotional depth. He gives us something to think about without straying into pedantic or cheesy territory. Big, big props to him for that.
You may resist seeing “Beehive” fearing that it’s going to jam a religious message down your throat. And while there is plenty of churchy stuff in the movie, it’s more about being open to new experiences, dealing with grief and the people who help put you on the road to becoming the person you want to be. This isn’t really a Mormon movie. It’s more like a movie about life that just happens to have Mormon characters in it.
”Once I was a Beehive” is a warm, wonderful movie. It’ll make you laugh and it might also get you to squirt a few tears if you’re not careful. Nelson and his crew have crafted a valentine to formative experiences in the lives of Mormon girls, but they’ve done it in a way you don’t have to be Mormon to appreciate. That’s a pretty awesome accomplishment.
One last thought: “Once I was a Beehive” was made without the backing of major studios or production companies, a double-edged sword of a proposition. While the filmmakers can make the movie they want to make without studio executives dumbing it down or homogenizing it in a race for dollar signs, they also don’t benefit from studio marketing campaigns and don’t have studio financial resources to fall back on. They require strong word of mouth to make their movies successful.
So, go see “Once I was a Beehive”. Take your family and friends. If you like it, tell everybody about it. Let’s make this movie a success. Because I really want to see what Maclain Nelson has up his sleeve next.