Remember freshman year in college? You knew at least one kid who lived in your dorm who lost it. Maybe it was no more attending class, no more showering, or maybe a strict diet of peanut butter and beer, but something pushed him over the edge (and probably out of college).

April is My Religion debuted at the St. Louis International Film Festival last Sunday.

It is the tale of Jack Wesson, a college freshman who loses his grasp on reality while gaining friends and experience during his first semester away from home.

Written and directed by Saint Louis University alumnus Bill Boll, the film was shot on digital video, a medium that lends itself to ingenuity but has its limitations.

Boll shot the movie on 28 hours of video, some of which was on location at SLU.

The atmosphere of the video hinges on the performances of the actors, who deliver inconsistently but earnestly. Many times, the dialogue was unbelievable because of its content, not the way the actors delivered it.

When Jack called his mom at home, she hollered to her husband, “Honey, it’s Jack on the phone, and he’s made friends with Wade!”

The parents talked like weirdos half the time but seemed very normal for much of the movie, which was a distracting inconsistency.

Many of the characters didn’t work as flat stereotypes or as juicy contributing characters.

Even April, the heroine, was a fairly nebulous character-just a beautiful quirky girl.

The highlights of the movie happened when Boll experimented with the versatility of video.

He used different techniques to portray states of drunkenness and being high. Sometimes even this got out of hand. Subtlety rules:

When Jack brushes his teeth while tripping on LSD, his face becomes slightly wavy, a simplistic detail that shows how he’s seeing the world. Other times, the effects are overtly psychedelic, but not in any ingenious way-just a lot of tie-dye.

The plot picks up about halfway through the movie, but the end is awkward and overly simplistic.

Boll has a knack for identifying humor; he and his actors just had some trouble portraying it.

The audience seemed to enjoy Jack’s character, but his stilted dialog and predictable situations were tired and tedious.

The situation and local scenery make it worthy of a rental (if that ever happens) but not $7.50.

Grade: C

(Not a religious experience)