What would you do if the Messiah suddenly appeared before you on a sidewalk, handing out antacids to passersby? If he tried to stop you to tell you his message of love and digestive health, would you stop and listen with an open heart? Or would you beat him over the head with your bag with one had while calling the cops on your cell phone with the other? The Proper Care and Feeding of An American Messiah follows one such self-proclaimed Messiah, Brian (Dustin Olson), as he struggles to overcome the obstacles to his Messianic path, including dealing with his inept band of apostles -- his brother, Aaron (Joseph Frost), his sister Miriam (Ellen Dolan), and his wife, Cecelia (Heather Henry) -- and a bad case of very unholy stomach problems.

The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah is a mockumentary loosely in the vein of Christopher Guest-style flick -- the director "interviews" Brian and his family about his Messianic calling and follows Brian on his quest to reach out to the people within his general Messiah zone -- about 100 square miles or so, according to Brian. Brian decides that the best way to reach his people is by holding a rally at the civic center -- a plan which will cost considerable money he doesn't have, since he doesn't hold a job and is living off his sister (the only one in the family, it seems, who actually has a paying job). But of course, you just can't expect a Messiah to hold a regular job, he has all that Messiah stuff to do all day.

We're introduced to Miriam, who doesn't really want to talk much about this whole Messiah thing, and Cecelia, who doesn't seem to care much what Brian does, so long as she has cable television -- and not the cheap kind either, she tells us. No, Brian provides her with enough cable channels to keep her well-sated with talk shows and game shows, and out of his hair. Brother Aaron is Brian's biggest fan, and follows him around rather like Tyke, that little dog in that old WB cartoon who was always maniacally bouncing around surly bulldog Spike ("What're we doing today, Spike? Huh?! Are we walkin' down the sidewalk, Spike? Are we? Huh?! Cool! You wanna bite my tail, Spike?!"), wearing a seemingly endless supply of Messiah-related t-shirts. I don't know if they were made just for costuming him for the film or if they bought them off-the-rack somewhere, but I want some.

Watching any mockumentary these days, it's difficult not to compare it to a Christopher Guest film, and there's that temptation in watching Messiah to consider which of Guest's cavalcade of regular players might have been case in which roles, and where they might have have worked in improvisational rifts. But really, that's unfair. After all, we don't expect every drama to be directed like Scorsese, right? The mockumentary is perhaps a bit more of a specialized subgenre, but that doesn't mean they all have to be like a Guest film, and Messiah is funny enough to stand on its own merits.

Writer/director Chris Hansen, making his directorial debut with this film, has created an eclectic cast of characters, but at the same time they are the kind of people you might know -- that odd neighbor down the street, or the co-worker with the interesting collection of Jesus statues in his office. There's a particularly hilarious segment when Brian, Aaron and Miriam are doing door-to-door fundraising for the rally -- selling "house blessings" -- when the tables get turned on them by a neighbor who wants Brian to rid his house of some unwanted houseguests.

Olson does a good job delivering the deapan routine, and Frost foils off him nicely as the dumb and gullible brother who believes in the Messiah thing wholeheartedly. There are a lot of laugh-out-loud moments in the film, and I found myself wishing I was watching in a theater, where I could feel the energy of the crowd. The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah is a funny, original film, and if it comes your way in another fest, it's well worth adding to your screening schedule.