The Home Teachers is a 2004 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 written by John Moyer

John Moyer (comedian, screenwriter)

John Moyer is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor and film producer. Moyer co-wrote the screenplays for The Singles Ward, The R.M., and The Home Teachers...

 and directed by Kurt Hale. The Home Teachers is a comedy distributed by Halestorm Entertainment

Halestorm Entertainment

Halestorm Entertainment is a film production and distribution company based in Orem, Utah. It was founded in January 2001 by Kurt Hale and Dave Hunter...

 and intended for LDS audiences, or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Plot

Greg Blazer is a slothful, lazy Latter-day Saint who loves football so much that he wears football jerseys under his church clothes. Much to his dismay, Greg's Sunday-football-watching plans are interrupted by Nelson Parker, a faithful, nerdy, stalwart Latter Day Saint who is Greg's new Home Teaching companion. Together, the two men set out to complete their assignment, beginning a journey of slapstick comedy and hijinks that includes Greg falling through a ceiling while wearing a wedding dress, dressing up like a deer, and accidentally dancing with a dead grandfather at his own funeral.

Background

After the successful distribution of two films intended for LDS audiences, Halestorm Entertainment made the decision to produce and distribute The Home Teachers, based on a script by John Moyer. The genesis of the film grew from a single idea. Moyer had the idea of Birkeland falling through a ceiling, and built a script around it. That scene developed into Birkeland, wearing a wedding dress, falling through the ceiling onto a fully set kitchen table, followed by a toilet. Moyer soon wrote many other scenes involving similar slapstick humor and developed them into a story.

Reception

The Home Teachers was a critical and box office disappointment. Critics lambasted its use of slapstick humor and criticized what they perceived as a heavy-handed plot. The film also suffered from direct comparisons to Tommy Boy

Tommy Boy

Tommy Boy is a 1995 road comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, and Fred Wolf. It stars former Saturday Night Live colleagues Chris Farley and David Spade. The film tells the story of a socially and emotionally immature man who learns lessons about friendship and...

, a successful 1995 film starring Chris Farley

Chris Farley

Christopher Crosby "Chris" Farley was an American comedian and actor. Farley was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1995....

, and David Spade

David Spade

David Wayne Spade is an American actor, comedian and television personality who first became famous in the 1990s as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and from 1997 until 2003 when he starred as Dennis Finch on Just Shoot Me!. He also starred as C.J...

, and Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a 1987 American comedy film released by Paramount Pictures. It was written, produced and directed by John Hughes...

, a 1987 film directed by John Hughes. Many critics felt that The Home Teachers borrowed too much from these films, a concern one professional critic referred to as "verging on comedic plagiarism".

The Home Teachers was the third film produced and distributed by Halestorm Entertainment. Halestorm's first two films, The Singles Ward

The Singles Ward

The Singles Ward is a 2002 LDS cinema comedy film directed by Kurt Hale and written by Kurt Hale and John E. Moyer based on his own life as a stand up comedian and single member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

and The R.M.

The R.M.

The R.M. is a 2003 comedy film about the experiences of an LDS returned missionary. "RM" is an LDS initialism for "returned missionary." It was written by Kurt Hale and John E. Moyer and directed by Kurt Hale.-Overview:...

, grossed $1,250,798 and $1,111,615 at the box office, respectively. Such similar box office grosses indicated a trend for Halestorm releases. However, The Home Teachers, despite being produced and distributed by the same source, grossed $196,123 during its theatrical run. It was less than 16% the gross of The Singles Ward and the lowest grossing LDS comedy of its time.