Into Temptation (2009) Online

It's hard for me to categorize this movie; it's unlike most films although it has elements of mystery, drama, comedy, tragedy and angst. The story revolves around a priest who is attempting to locate a confessor in the Minneapolis underworld while simultaneously confronting some of his personal demons but it is not nearly as trite as that sounds, the whole presentation feels remarkably unique and fresh. It does not present itself like a major studio treatment nor like the usual independent effort.

All aspects of the film's production are convincing and very assured. While most of the plot's elements have been explored elsewhere, this particular combination of excellent screenplay and considerable talent is somewhat like being exposed to an entirely new cuisine - and a welcome change that is. It is clever, poignant, buoyant, gritty and witty but it is not your normal fare.

Try it, you might like it.

I watched Into Temptation on Netflix's recommendation despite the film's stale-sounding plot outline, primarily because Jeremy Sisto had the lead role. To my surprise, the story turned out to be enveloping and the direction well-paced. Jeremy Sisto was, as expected, excellent: it's not easy to play the role of one Catholic priest and still connect with an audience, what with people bringing well-formed notions about all priests to the table. Rather than shoulder the burden of controversy, Sisto performs Father John Buerlein as a simple, flawed but honest guy. Coyle works in slight transgressions from Buerlein's past and present to help us suspend our cynicism about the church. It works.

Great as Sisto was, Kristin Chenoweth's role was probably the more difficult of the two. The story of her Linda Salerno needed to be told almost exclusively through flashbacks, one confession and a series of ambiguous moments - not many lines to understand, let alone connect with, a troubled and aging high-end prostitute who places absolution high on her checklist of things to do before committing suicide. Chenoweth plain nails it, presents her pain in subtle ways and never tries to be a saint (Sisto's parish, not coincidentally, is a shrine to Mary Magdalene).

Overall, there are some small plot imperfections that acting and direction redeem. It's an excellent film, well-worth the time and money.

This is a quietly charming film filled with nice performances and an honest dignity that doesn't flinch from reality, yet avoids wallowing in the sensational. It tells a relatively wholesome tale about some sordid subjects and proves you can do that without seeming corny or fake.

John Buerlein (Jeremy Sisto) is a young Catholic priest who's brought a withered parish back to life. He's started up a homeless shelter and is a wonderful counselor to his congregation, whether it's the unwed mother railing against Church teachings about gender, the unemployed man struggling with sense of self, the gay teen coming to terms with his identity or the neighborhood busybody who thinks confession is a time to complain about her husband. What John isn't good at are the more public roles of the priest, particularly preaching and being a public figure in the community.

One day in confession, John hears some startling words from a beautiful woman (Kristin Chenoweth). She says she's a prostitute and that her upcoming birthday will be her last…because she's going to kill herself. She slips away before John can do anything, but he can't stop thinking about her. This good man awkwardly plunges himself into the seedy underbelly of his city, searching for the woman to try and save her. The woman, named Linda, sets about tying up all the loose ends of her life. She cancels her newspaper subscription, says goodbye to all her "clients" and has a last talk with the stepfather who started raping her when she was 12. Will John be able to find Linda without becoming contaminated by the tawdry world she inhabits? Will he be able to say anything to dent her determination toward suicide? I encourage you to rent this DVD and find out.

I quite enjoyed Into Temptation. It's a rather reserved film, without any of the sturm and/or drang you might expect for this sort of story and neither vilifies the Catholic faith nor exploits the licentiousness of whoredom. This has all the makings of some cheap, melodramatic potboiler about a priest tormented into breaking his vows and the jezebel who comes between him and God, but Into Temptation is nothing like that. John Buerlein isn't tormented. He's a genuinely devout man who believes in the life he's chosen to lead. That doesn't mean he's some sort of goody two shoes, just that he tries to choose what is right over what is wrong. This movie is a little too racy to be for the whole family but in the way it directly confronts the conflicts of faith in an often faithless world, this film is like something you would show to Catholic teens (or young folk of any denomination) so they could see how their religion can flow through their lives and not simply be something they do on Sundays.

The story also draws some interesting parallels between the priest and the prostitute and not in an insulting or demeaning way. It makes you consider how they both live lonely lives because the things they do for others don't leave any room for themselves. The celibate priest and the hooker both keep the rest of the world at a distance. Their "jobs" require it.

There's some very nice and restrained acting on display here. There are no histrionics to either Jeremy Sisto's or Kristin Chenoweth's work. There is no scenery chewing or explosions of emotion. They both define their characters by what they don't do and their resolute way of not doing it. Chenoweth lets Linda's silence tell us about the unfathomable pain of a woman who's led a hard life and is worn down to the nub. Sisto gives John a polite strength. He's a man that may struggle to understand the right thing to do but once he does, he won't be turned away from doing it. Brian Baumgartner is wonderful and funny as a fellow priest who's a mentor to John. Father Ralph is very much John's opposite. He's much more comfortable and capable at the public role of the priesthood, but he uses humor and sarcasm to keep himself separate from the messy aspects of humanity that John is brave enough to embrace.

The only real complaint I could make about Into Temptation, outside of Chenoweth remaining clothed throughout the film, is that it's imbalanced. We get all of John's story, including a bit where his teenage girlfriend comes back to town and makes a drunken pass at him. It's handled more respectfully than such a thing normally is in entertainment, but it's unnecessary. However, the movie only gives us snippets of Linda's story. When she gives her confession at the start, we only hear a few lines and then the film skips over the rest. John hears Linda's story, but the audience never gets anything but the barest of details. That continues throughout Into Temptation, where we only get flashes of what Linda is doing. Chenoweth does an excellent job packing a lot of meaning into those brief scenes, which only increases the desire to see more. Instead of fully being a tale of two people, this is a movie about John with Linda is relegated to a compelling supporting character.

If you spend any time looking around a video store, you'll find an awful lot of movies you've never heard of. Most of them suck and suck hard. You've probably never heard of Into Temptation. But it's worth watching.

I am bringing two skill sets to this review; (1) a tough movie critic, and (2) an irreverent but informed ex-seminary student. On both fronts, this film was spectacular.

(1) The writing was excellent in terms of being contemporary-- especially in light of the context of a Catholic priest--irreverent, unpredictable, unassuming in its theological treatment, unconventional, and (thankfully!) at the end, refreshingly unresolved.

(2) The themes were consistently theologically grounded, albeit within the Catholic vernacular. Father Ralph brings a distinctly expedient and assured style into the dialogue, while Father John brings a more deliberate, cognitive but dedicated approach. The two balance each other like a great "work team" arriving at a plausible and thought-provoking explanation for the darkness that is our human condition.

This film was surprisingly excellent. Upon watching a few previews prior to the film, I had significant doubts that I would finish a full 95 minutes of viewing. Yet the film brought me through real life, uncomfortable conversations, earnest seeking, genuine intent, and left me with the best possible theological conclusion: one of Grace.

***********POSSIBLE BIG-TIME SPOILERS!!!************* This film is a rare and very precious gift, for real. It took me 2 viewings to fully comprehend what message it was trying to convey, and that's true with any film. There are NO flaws in this film. If it seems too slow or introspective or you feel it's not "talking" loudly enough for you, you may be like me: You need to see it at least twice.

It is a quiet, gentle, yet intensely communicative film about damage, sin, searching for one's faith, begging for absolution while knowing that life cannot go on, a misguided attempt to intervene, the realization of one's terrible mistakes, forgiveness and atonement.

In an inner-city Catholic parish, ironically named St. Mary Magdalen's, a young priest (Jeremy Sisto), ordained 12 years ago, keeps busy and dedicated to God's work. When not listening to busybody wives complain incessantly about their husband's habits, he is counseling mothers-to-be, a conflicted youth who believes he is gay, and an unemployed ex-boxer; or he is running a homeless shelter, praying over the sick/dying, or attending mandatory speaking appearances with the ladies' auxillary.

His life, while super-busy and tirelessly dedicated, seems strangely routine somehow. But one evening, before Mass, a beautiful blond woman named Linda (Kristin Chenoweth) comes to confession for the first time in nearly 2 decades. She confesses that she wants to end her life on her own birthday, sometime in the very near future, and she strongly needs Father John to give her an answer: Am I damned for eternity if I commit this "unpardonable" sin? She spends a while telling John her sad tale, then leaves abruptly.

The first sign that Father John Buerlein is about to embark on an interesting journey was not evident to me on first viewing. And I don't want to spoil it too much; Father John had a certain task to perform, right there in that confessional booth, and he should have concentrated on that one task. As Father Ralph O'Brien (Brian Baumgartner) puts it, "Don't cross that line, John." From the first moment he encounters Linda, though, John seems unable to put it out of his mind. He finds himself preoccupied even at the pulpit. He keeps hearing her voice, and maybe, he already is aware of the mistake he's made handling this encounter, and desperately needs to make things right before she carried out her final plans. He begins to conduct a search for Linda, whose whole face he never got a look at, only her hair, lips and the crucifix she wore. His desperation, his need to make it up to her that he didn't do what he should have in the booth, drive him to places he would never have gone to. He HAS TO FIND HER. That's all he knows. And it seems he must do what he must. He researches prostitutes in the public library, he takes a prostitute out for a drink, and most bizarre, when the owner of a sex shoppe tells him he has to buy something in order to look around the place for Linda, he buys a porn magazine. Somehow, even though he knows he is treading in dangerous waters, his obsession with finding and stopping Linda is so strong that he believes that if he fraternizes with the patrons of the streets, pimps, prostitutes, peep show dancers and porn shoppes, he will somehow find Linda and save her life.

Why is he obsessed so? Does he feel like the work he's already doing not really go anywhere? Is he, a seasoned priest, not really sincere and on the prowl for some good carnal fun? Is he going through the motions, having become "lukewarm" in his faith? Not at all. It's more than obvious, he needs to find Linda again and help her, like he should have in the first place.

The characters Zeke, Gus and Miriam are so mysteriously crafted that at first I was asking, "Angels among us?" Oh yeah, and we can't forget James St. Clair!!! While we follow Father John on his journey through the dark streets of Linda's world, we take an internal tour of him as well, and as much as I loved Chenoweth's portrayal of the tortured Linda, this is definitely Sisto's film for the most part. We find out a lot about him, and the many sources of earthly, fleshly "temptation" that a lesser person would cave and succumb to. After all the negative portrayals we've seen and heard of Catholic priests, it is as refreshing as a winter night's air to see a man, a young man at that, be this disciplined and dedicated, to possess such a strength of spirit, to be able to resist what most men weaken and lust after. John doesn't even waver in the presence of his beautiful ex-girlfriend Nadine (Amy Matthews) who is back in town and asking him point blank if he still has feelings and desires for her.

The film will not be for you if you are looking for action and explosions are one-liners. The humour is extremely good, but there will be no spoofing or schock-sex-humour or big jokes like in a film like DOGMA by Kevin Smith (also an admirable film about the Catholic faith, but very different from this!!!) The pace is very fast, but again, the key word here is subtlety. You have to pay close attention to every word, every scene, every detail. The only gripes I'll offer is that I don't know whose pix Linda is looking at in that scene where she is going thru a box of her stuff.

Honestly, I didn't know what I'd think of it, being that it is a film about a priest descending into a dark underground to find a hooker. But I love this film! I'll give it an A+.

Without being a cornball piece of fluff, this film left me feeling that maybe somewhere, even if it's only in a film, people do still try to help each other out without regard for money, or some type of favor. Without the non-stop assault on our senses, emotions, and intellect, this film tells a touching story that really resonates, due to the excellent performances by every actor in the film. Good writing, direction and a marvelous score by a composer who is not afraid to admit that he is influenced by Bernard Herrmann, and doesn't have to use synthesizers and drum machines to cop out. We should be thankful to see a film that has no hip-hop and rap.

Into Temptation (2009)

This is a religious film, really, in street clothes. And in the end it's about how being good is really good.

It's also a lesson in how you have to bend the rules to actually do the right thing--even if you fail. And that sometimes you do the right thing and succeed--without even knowing it.

Clearly a low budget movie, and a fairly simple one, in filmmaking terms (the sets, the light, the presence of the camera, the side characterizations, and the music, all these key elements, are unremarkable). But the plot itself, with its twists, is enough to make you at least curious. Yes, you wonder why it has to go tawdry at times, why there has to be some sexed up stuff for the viewer (it doesn't advance the plot, in the one egregious case). And there is a tidy solution to the central problem that will seem cheap to nonbelievers and magical to believers.

Most of all is a great performance by the lead, the priest, played by Jeremy Sisto. I knew him best from his role as Billy in Six Feet Under, and loved him there, and he is if anything more subtle and interesting (if less outrageous) here. It's a careful, felt performance in a movie that should have supported him better. Other aspects may jump out. His ex-girlfriend, whatever her role, is utterly believable, as much as the prostitute in question is not. The other priest is a caricature who overplays his part but has some great dialog with Sisto. There is the key flashback, which adds yet another layer of meaning, of cause and effect, and though it moved me somehow, I felt manipulated by it, and it was another case where the movie showed its seams.

So it may try too hard and strain within its resources (and with the director's reach--he has one other film to his credit, and famous as the voice in a Hamburger Helper t.v. ad), but it has moments that are right on. With Sisto's help. For those inclined toward religious sentimentality.

After Catholicism has been under attack for so many years due to the abuse of children by some immoral Catholic priest,there was one movie that redeems it.That movie is Into Temptation.

Into Temptation is an independent drama film written and directed by Patrick Coyle, that stars Jeremy Sisto, Kristin Chenoweth, Brian Baumgartner, Bruce A. Young and Amy Matthews. It tells the story of a prostitute, who confesses to a Catholic priest that she plans to kill herself on her birthday. The priest attempts to find and save her, and in doing so plunges himself into a darker side of society.

Jeremy Sisto stars as Catholic priest Father John,who has become complacent in his vocation until the day that a depressed prostitute, Linda Salerno,played wonderfully by Kristin Chenowith,wanders into his confessional and reveals that she intends to commit suicide on her birthday -- and then disappears. Father John's quest to find and save the woman leads him on a journey into the city's sexual underworld, where he finds help from unexpected sources.

The movie redeems the Catholic faith in the sense that it shows that priests do exist to help lost souls and bring them to God.Aside from that,it also explores the effect of the sacrament of confession.It was wonderful that his movie shows that this neglected sacrament does help in bringing people closer to God.Aside from that,the movie also examines the power of forgiveness and its effect to everyone.

The performances in the movie were great especially that of Kristin Chenowith,who is outstanding in evoking the emotional complexities felt by the prostitute,Linda Salerno.She truly was effective in gaining the sympathy of the viewer.Great mention should also be given to Jeremy Sisto,who was good in portraying also the inner struggle that a Catholic priest like Father John does experience inside as a person and as a priest. Although there are many ambiguities in the screenplay as other events of the stories are left for the viewers to decide,this is one film that would truly be appreciated by many Catholics who wants to gain faith in the Church and their religion and people who love great independent movies.

Into Temptation delivers.It was worth one's time and it is highly recommended.It was truly deserving of a 10 of 10 rating.

Perhaps like you, I hesitated to watch this film because I thought it might fall into the standard clichés of a religious thriller (like a cluelessly naïve priest, a slutty prostitute, gratuitous booty shots, vapid dialogue, blatant religious or anti-religious propaganda, predictable ending, etc), so I came to IMDb to check out the reviews. As others have said, this is indeed a great movie. I was really surprised at how much substance the filmmakers packed into this 95 min film. It constantly surprised me and was never predictable while making logical sense the whole way through. And it leaves us with a powerful message we can all munch on, religious folks & atheists alike.

Through Jeremy Sisto's character, an intelligent and curious young priest, we are presented with a lot of fascinating themes. Though set amid the Catholic church, we don't get any church propaganda nor do we get church bashing. Instead the film focuses on human beings and how, regardless of god & religion, we attempt to find peace in our souls. The film never comes across as preachy, yet it shows us the value of human interactions and how our trivial actions can have enormous consequences.

Conversely, the lascivious underworld of sex & debauchery presents another venue, but the film never descends to the obvious moralizing. Again, they're all shown to be human beings with human interactions, and it's the value of these interactions that gives the world meaning.

This is a very dialogue-driven, tone-driven movie. In other words, no car chases, shootouts or big explosions. Instead the interesting characters carry the film and do so brilliantly. There's a lot of playful banter between characters, and the witty humour is what really makes this a fun film even though it makes us think.

This may sound odd, but it reminded me a lot of The Exorcist III, another excellent film that packs much more than the DVD cover implies. Both films revolve around a man whose faith is unconventional, who is trying to make sense of a bizarre mystery & how it relates to matters of the soul. And both films have some great humour despite being thrillers. Don't forget the great acting. Jeremy Sisto's quiet, inexperienced-yet-savvy character in Into Temptation is like a young George C Scott in The Exorcist III. Put your thinking cap on, see both films, and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Other obscure films that this reminded me of (and which I also recommend) are "Rudy Blue" (1999), "Angela" (1995), and "The Merry Gentleman" (2008).

Patrick Coyle provides us a great indie film starring Jeremy Sisto and Kristin Chenoweth that has a story involving a Catholic priest and a suicidal prostitute in "Into Temptation". It presents us interesting themes that consist of religious overtones and undertones such as forgiveness,redemption,righteousness,celibacy,renewal of commitment to one 's calling.Aside from that,it also provides an examination on Catholicism particularly its teachings,the clergy and the sacraments particularly Confession.

The screenplay presents two central characters namely:Fr.John Burlein and Linda Salerno.The story starts when we get to witness Fr. John hearing confession from a woman who uses the sacrament to tell tales of her husband and providing counsels to different congregants such as an expectant mother,a man who is having feelings of homosexuality and an unemployed boxer.We get to see him becoming bored of his routine as a priest particularly confession when he carries a paper to answer crossword puzzle and also being someone who does not adhere to everything that that the Catholic Church preaches as he suggests flexibility and tolerant to homosexuals.Things become interesting when he hears a confession of Linda who admits to him of planning to kill herself.Before he could give the absolution,he tries to talk to Linda about her plans.But she leaves him before he could.This prompt him to search for her which brings him to the red-light district which brings him to temptation as it exposes him to a surroundings of overt sexuality.Things get worse when an ex-girlfriend who still have romantic feelings for him visits him in his parish.

The film really worked for me for many reasons.First,we have two interesting central characters that undergo journeys of their own Fr.John and Linda. Fr. John started in the screenplay as a priest who is somewhat losing his passion for priesthood due to the dwindling mass attendees in his church;his liberal mindset as he is not in total agreement with the Church's teachings especially in not crossing the boundaries of helping lost souls; and his fights against the feelings of celibacy especially with his mother's constant nagging from having no grandchildren and the restrictions of probably renewing his relationship with his newly divorced high school sweetheart with whom he still have feelings for.But upon hearing the confessions of Linda,we get to see him change into a renewed and committed priest during his search for the prostitute as he once more realizes the true nature of his calling which apparently was to help people whether turning them to God or providing them of their needs in any way he and the Church can whether helping the poor or providing counsel to the congregants to lead them into a renewed life.Despite the fact that he wasn't able to help Linda,the frustration he experienced made him a better and more committed priest in the end. Sisto did a wonderful job as Fr. John as the viewer could totally relate to him as a man who found himself again as a clergy.As for Linda,we get to her journey from the path of immorality as a prostitute after suffering sexual abuse from his stepfather to that of redemption will simply touch the viewer.It will definitely help them realize the importance of one's examination of life particularly the actions one has carried out.Added to that,we also would admire her for her ability to ask for God's forgiveness and to forgive her stepfather knowing the sufferings she experienced. Despite that little of her journey was told in the film as we did not fully know her character well just we did not know whether she killed herself or not in the end,her character would definitely leave a profound impact to the viewer.Give credit to Chenoweth for the marvelous performance.

In summary,Into Temptation is one independent religious film that is worthy to be seen.

Jeremy Sisto stars in an independent drama that provides insights on the Catholic faith particularly the Sacrament of Reconciliation which is better known as Confession.

The story involves a Catholic priest,Fr. John Burlein, who hears a confession of a prostitute named Linda Salerno,who intends to kill herself on her birthday.After listening to her confess and failing to give the absolution,the priest seeks out to look for her in the Minneapolis sex underworld wherein he discovers more about the trade of prostitution.As he makes his journey,Fr John also discovers more about himself like his personal flaws in relation to his vocation as a priest,the virtue of forgiveness, and sins committed by everyone.

Hollywood has made numerous films about sexual sins committed by Catholic priests like Primal Fear and Spotlight.It is a welcome change to see this great independent film overall as it provides a positive light to Catholicism particularly priests.Fr John was presented as someone who wanted to sincerely help others despite being far from an ideal priest especially after hearing the confession of Linda.Jeremy Sisto gave a sincere performance in it.Added to that,we also get to see a refreshing screenplay that is based on reality and far from being clichéd nor predictable.The characters aren't simple nor one-sided as we get to see real people involved in the story.It will have viewers continue talking after the end credits have appeared.Finally,this indie drama definitely puts Catholicism in a good light as it gives appreciation to its sacraments particularly confession,its clergy and its teachings.

The only thing not well done in this awesome little film by Patrick Coyle is a sense of urgency in the Priest's (Introspectively played by Jeremy Sisto) pursuit of a troubled call girl (brilliantly played by Kristin Chenoweth) wishing to take her life but seeking absolution beforehand.

Much of the film focuses on the Priest's history, his day to day and his pursuit of the call girl who confesses that she will kill herself on her birthday. We learn a lot about what he does and bit about who he is as a person.

What makes this a really good film is how little we get to see of the Call girl's life. What little we do see however, gives us so much into why she is so angry, so sad, and why she so desperately needs absolution for what she sees as the only way out of her misery.

While I had flashbacks to Stigmata without the supernatural elements, and vastly better written, the sadness hit me all the same. A definite must see.

The premise of the movie was interesting. Will he be able to reach her? Can he stop her? But a ton of the scenes stuck me as filler, with little dramatic import. The subplot of the priest's "temptation" turned out to be, simply, empty. His looking at the magazines had no discernible effect on him. The ex-girlfriend's approaches were easily diverted. He doesn't seem to have been "into temptation" after all. When the girlfriend apologized and talked as if she was not going to bother him any more, I wondered, "So what was all that about then?" Just a little subplot to fill the time. Was he really looking at the prostitute's cleavage or just at her necklace? The ending with the prostitute also seemed a bit of a cheat.

The conversations between the priest and his black parishioner seemed very odd, where the parishioner was playing the role of counsellor to the priest.

Two stars out of five.