but rewrote the part as a fictional character and hoped to cast a comedic actor instead. They were pleasantly surprised when David Koechner said yes to playing the role. Jason Alexander joined the film in July 2019. Release The film premiered at Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January 2020. The film was released October 9, 2020, across most major video-on-demand platforms. Reception On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of , based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of . The site's consensus states: "Faith Ba$ed affectionately skewers faith-based filmmaking while offering a surprisingly nuanced look at friendship and belief." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100, based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Masciale and screenwriter Luke Barnett, both Funny or Die regulars, have crafted a playfully humorous sendup that's more about poking fun at their characters than tearing down faith-based filmmaking." Norman Gidney at Film Threat called it "a surprisingly lighthearted romp that is more Guffman than Spinal Tap. A good-natured comedy that, while not always funny, remains as sincere as The Book of Mormon. No, really, that is a massive compliment." Grant Hermanns of ComingSoon.net gave it 8 out of 10 and wrote: "Faith Based ultimately proves to be a really charming, very smart and frequently funny ride with a unique satirical target and a sweet cast." Michael Ordona of the Los Angeles Times gave it a mixed review: "Is Faith Based the answer to the prayers of comedy-starved movie buffs? Not entirely, but it's no plague of locusts, either." Roger Moore at Movie Nation called it "basically a 90 minute swing-and-a-miss", and Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times called it "abysmally unfunny." References External links 2020 films 2020 comedy films American comedy films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films