On the Small Screen in Minnesota

An ongoing complaint here at Movie Churches is that films set in states are often not filmed there. For example, last week only 3 of the 10 films that were supposedly set in Wisconsin were actually filmed there.

I’m sure you feel our outrage about this situation, but we have good news this week. All of the films set in Minnesota were actually filmed, at least partially, in Minnesota. Often, the Minnesota natives (usually the screenwriter) involved with the making of these films insisted. And sometimes the movie was set and filmed in Minnesota because the story was so darned Minnesotan.

Filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen were both born and raised in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. They’ve made a couple of films, Fargo and A Serious Man, in their native state. But we’ll save Fargo for a future week because it is not exclusively set in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

2009’s A Serious Man is set somewhere in Minnesota, and it follows Larry Gopnik, a modern day Job -- or at least a man who perceives himself as a modern Job. Larry faces a great variety of domestic trials, from a wife seeking divorce to run-ins with the Columbia Record Club. Larry begins to ponder whether God is trying to tell him something. Local rabbis take the place of Job’s friends and prove just as useful. With the most dry of humor, the Coens ask where we can find meaning in life.

There are no answers, but there are some good questions in the film. (And surely the Coens are the only people these days who could get such a film made.)

One of many noted deaths in 2016 was songwriter and musician, Prince. In 1984's Purple Rain, Prince (full name Prince Rogers Nelson) starred in a semi autobiographical story about a budding rock star called “The Kid.” Like The Purple One, The Kid struggles to achieve musical greatness in the city of Minneapolis.

Brook Busey-Maurio, better known as Diablo Cody, was originally from Illinois, but she moved to Minneapolis to pursue a career as an “exotic dancer” and then a blogger. And then she became a screenwriter. Most of her screenplays are set Minnesota, but 2011’s Young Adult was actually filmed there. In it, Charlize Theron plays a writer of youth novels (under a pseudonym) who decides to leave the big city of Minneapolis to visit the small Minnesota town where she grew up. Though she isn’t so young in years, she is in maturity.

Screenwriter Lona Williams, a native of Roseville, set 1999’s Drop Dead Gorgeous in a small Minnesota town. The film features a number of starlets -- Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Brittany Murphy, and Amy Adams -- as beauty contestants in a pageant that turns deadly.

Mark Steven Johnson, a screenwriter and native of Hastings, was fortunate to have the elderly film icons Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon and Ann-Margret star in 1993’s Grumpy Old Men, which is also set in small town Minnesota.

1998’s A Simple Plan was written by a guy from New Jersey (Scott B. Smith based the screenplay on his own novel) and directed by a Michigander, Sam Raimi. But the tale of three blue collar friends who find a million dollars of drug money works well in the background of a cold and unforgiving Minnesota winter.

Though the creators (director Niki Caro, writers Michael Seitzman and Clara Bingham) of 2005’s North Country were not from Minnesota, the true story it’s based on is. It is a fictionalized account of the 1988 sexual harassment suit, Jenson v. Eveleth Mines, filed against a Minnesota mining company. It stars Charlize Theron (see Young Adult) and Frances McDormand (see Fargo when we get to North Dakota).

Outdoor kid's rink in MN in October

The creators of 1992’s The Mighty Ducks are not Minnesotans either. Even star Emilio Estevez is from New York City. (An aside here, but of course Emilio is from NYC and not the Midwest. Is there anyone less Midwestern in the world than Emilio’s brother, Charlie Sheen?) But the film is about youth hockey, and Minnesota is certainly the home of youth hockey in the United States. Fortunately, Disney had the good marketing sense to not set or film in hockey’s other North American home, Canada.

In Wisconsin, we featured several films that began as skits on Saturday Night LIve. While he was a regular on the show, Al Franken created the meek character Stuart who tries to live out the Twelve Steps for a better life. The character was a native of Minnesota, so 1995’s Stuart Saves His Family is set in the state. Franken is a native of New York City. Of course, now he represents Minnesota in the United States Senate. (It’s unfortunate that none of former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura’s films seem to be set in Minnesota. A Minnesota Predator film would have been awesome.)

If you took a survey of what one person best represents the state of Minnesota, Garrison Keillor would very likely top the list. From 1974 until this very year, Keillor hosted a radio show of his own creation, A Prairie Home Companion. It’s a variety show for a great variety of musical talent, from folk singers to classical instrumentalists to country and rock stars. There were a number of recurring characters and skits with idiosyncratic cowboys, a family obsessed with catsup, and a Minneapolis detective named Guy Noir. The heart of the show was the stories Keillor wove about his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” In 2006, director Robert Altman brought the radio show to the big screen as A Prairie Home Companion, with stars Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson, Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, and, of course, Keillor himself.

Mass Appeal (1984)

The young seminarian's shorts (satin, green, and oh so short) are extremely eighties. He wears them when he runs, which is daily, for eight to ten miles. He believes this will help him keep chaste. He's even wearing those shorts when he visits the church pastored by Father Tim Farley, who has the reputation of being the best priest in the diocese (if so, poor diocese -- in spite of the diocese being very rich).

The seminarian, Mark Dolson (played by Law and Order DA Zeljko Ivanek), and the priest (played by the great Jack Lemmon) are the central characters in this film that examines "Current Catholic Crises" (the name of one of Farley's sermon series). Bill Davis wrote the screenplay based on his play (also called "Mass Appeal"), and in the play these were the only two characters.  The film opens things up, letting us see the church's congregants and the monsignor (Charles Durning), who acts as the villain.

 As always, it's the church we are reviewing, not the film, and we get an interesting glimpse of St. Francis Church during Mark Dolson's first visit. Father Farley is finishing up his "Three C's" series with what we learn is "one of his famous dialogue sermons." He says they will be discussing that morning the topic of whether the Roman Catholic Church should ordain women as priests. He asks the congregation to ask questions on the subject. It soon becomes apparent that the reason the priest does such sermons is because they require little preparation. Mark notes that it was women who were faithful to Jesus at His Death through His Resurrection. When Mark asks him substantive questions on the issue, Farley becomes quite irate. He is especially angered when Mark asks for his opinion on the subject. Father Tim doesn't want to do anything as risky as giving an opinion.

Farley goes back to his study to drink wine (one of his favorite occupations) and decide what series of sermons he should begin next week. (Doesn't the church use a Scriptural Lectionary that he could use to plan his sermons?) But then he gets a call from the monsignor about some problems at the seminary (Mark Dolson is one of the problems) which leads Farley to the awesome idea of a sermon series, "The Road to the Priesthood." Why would the average parishioner be interested in that topic?

So, Father Farley is an awful preacher who doesn't look to Scripture for his sermon but relies on lame jokes, but maybe Mark Dolson will prove to be a better preacher? He's a little better, but not much. He wants to preach about the evils of materialism. He condemns those who come to church with "your mink hats and your cashmere coats and blue hair." Farley tells Mark when talking about sin, he should use "we" not "you." This is actually sound advice, but Mark doesn't take it, preferring his own more priggish style of preaching. Also, choosing those three things to condemn makes him sound more than a little misogynistic.

Mark also doesn't seem to feel the need to preach about the Bible. He preaches a sermon about how his family went for jelly donuts after Mass (Farley likes this idea), and another sermon about the death of his tropical fish when he was a child. Both men are useless in the pulpit.

Perhaps though, they are better in other aspects of ministry? Say, in counseling? Well, Father Farley is often seen trying to dodge counseling appointments with "white lies." (Mark constantly confronts the Father about his habit of lying.) He can't avoid seeing a woman whose mother has just passed away. He goes with Mark to see her. As the woman pours out her grief, Farley assures her, "It's all for the best."

Mark later asks why Farley doesn't just listen to people in grief. Farley says it's the job of a priest to spout inanities to those in pain so they will reach a state of "inconsolable grief" that he feels is blessed in some way. He says that if he was counseling a mother who just lost an infant, he's say, "You're young, you can have others" or "Heaven must have wanted another blessing." In other words, he sets out to say the very things that will cause many people to hate the church and leave it.

One interesting thing about the church in the film is the eighties take on controversial issues. It's interesting how the arguments have changed. Mark is bisexual and takes the stand that the church should ordain homosexuals and bisexuals as long as they will remain chaste in ministry. The argument has moved on since then. The question now is whether priests need to remain chaste.

As horrible as the ministry of Father Farley is, Mark takes time to care for the poor, visit prisoners and play basketball with the youth. He singlehandedly saves the church in the film from the lowest rating of one steeple and earns it two.