''The R.M.'' is a 2003

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

about the experiences of a returned missionary of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church). "RM" is an LDS

initialism An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for "returned missionary". It was written by Kurt Hale and John E. Moyer and directed by Hale.

Plot

Jared Phelps returns home from his

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

to find a world very different from the one he left two years previously. This movie opens with a send-off at the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

full of family and friends of Elder Phelps. He serves a two-year mission in the Wyoming Evanston South Mission. The opening credits are shown by using instant photographs. They also show Elder Phelps going from a "greenie" (new missionary), to district leader, to zone leader and finally to an assistant to the mission president. Returning home, things do not go so well. His parents thought that he was coming home the following month, so no one is there to meet him at the airport. He did not receive the letter that his family had moved, so he is surprised by the greeting of the new homeowner in the form of a

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

kick while he is in the shower. (He later refers to this as being "Kung-fued by a naked ninja".) His bed is now occupied by a

foreign exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...

from

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. When he is reunited with his parents, he discovers his mother is pregnant. Jared's girlfriend, who promised to wait for him to return, is getting married in two weeks. The jewelry store where he bought the ring will not take it back. And his former employer who promised to give him a job on his return has sold the business and started an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

enterprise and the only job opening is to mine

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

s in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Things become worse from there. He is rejected from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU). He quickly goes through a series of jobs and even considers selling knives. He develops a romantic relationship with Kelly, the daughter of H. Ronald Powers, a general authority who, to his embarrassment, he is unfamiliar with (despite the fact that he gave a "great talk" last October in general conference, to which everyone seems to refer). While Jared is on a date with Kelly, his mother goes into labor and has a boy. He also has

boil A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, which is an infection of the hair follicle. It is most commonly caused by infection by the bacterium ''Staphylococcus aureus'', resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an ...

s and eventually is arrested due to the actions of a friend. Because of the arrest, he is fired from his job and released from his church calling as elders quorum president. He has to seriously consider whether to lie and keep him and his friend out of jail, or to tell the truth and send himself and/or his friend to jail. In the end, he decides to tell the truth, and is ultimately cleared of all charges, but his friend must face some time in jail. Later, Jared gives a talk at church about how his mission blessed his life in ways he did not expect. He decides to take night classes and reapply for BYU in the fall. After some time dating Kelly, the two are seen in a jewelry shop to exchange Jared's old ring for a new one, as they are now engaged.

Selected credits

Cast

Kirby Heyborne Kirby Heyborne (born October 8, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer, songwriter, narrator and comedian. He is known for his work in films centered around the culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Heyborn ...

, Jared Phelps *Britani Bateman, Kelly Powers * Will Swenson, Kori Swenson *

Gary Crowton David Gary Crowton (born June 14, 1957) is an American football coach. He is the offensive coordinator at Pine View High School in St. George, Utah, a position he has held since 2018. Crowton served as the head football coach at Louisiana Tech ...

, Bishop Andrews *Fred Derbyshire, Crazy grandpa *

Wally Joyner Wallace Keith Joyner (born June 16, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player. He played for four major league teams during a 16-year career, most notably for the California Angels, for whom he was an All-Star. He was a member of ...

, Brother Jensen * Larry H. Miller, himself (cameo)

Crew

* Kurt Hale,

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

* Kurt Hale & John E. Moyer,

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 11 reviews. The

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

based newspaper ''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...

'' gave a negative review of the film saying it tried to do too much with some awful local celebrity cameos.

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

gave a more positive review describing it as "Good natured and innocuously wholesome".

Movieguide Millard Robert E. Theodore Baehr (born 1946) is an American media critic and chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, a division of Good News Communications, Inc. He is publisher and editor-in-chief of ''Movieguide'', a website ...

gave it a negative review from a religious perspective, giving the film a -4, the lowest score, on its acceptability rating indicating gross immorality or worldview problems. The film grossed a total of $1.1 million and made $130,352 on its opening weekend.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:R.M., The Mormon cinema 2003 films Films shot in Utah Works about Mormon missionaries Halestorm Entertainment films 2000s English-language films