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Three out of Five stars
Running time: 93 mins

God and gambling aren’t normally associated together, except in lives of the Church Team, a group of card-counting church-goers who play blackjack for a living and who form the focus of Bryan Storkel's unusual if rather uncritical documentary.

What’s it all about?
Not to be confused with Jesse Eiesenberg’s Jewish drug-smuggling caper of the same name which was released earlier this year, Bryan Storkel’s Holy Rollers documents a group of Christian blackjack fanatics nicknamed the Church Team. Following their progress, Storkel interviews various players about their beliefs as well as covertly detailing their numerous Casino trips, and his camera also drops in on financial meetings. Alongside plenty shots of neon Las Vegas horizons and copious casino clips from everything from Rainman to Southpark, Storkel helpfully illuminates the basics of card-counting whilst also spending a bit of time with those casino employees who try to stop the group.

The Good
Who wouldn’t be intrigued by a documentary about blackjack gamblers trying to beat the casinos at their own game? Bryan Storkel’s debut betters that, gaining access to a subject that many first-time documentarians only dream about – a group of young, posturing, bearded, against the system types who just happen to be card-counting casino-hating pastors, ministers and fervent Christians, who have no scruples about gambling as it allows them to dedicate more of their lives to spending time with their families as well as spreading God’s word.

Storkel manages to follow them at remarkable close range over a three year period, following everything from their highs (making a $1.58 million profit one year) and lows (lots of losses another year), to documenting their business model as well as their bizarre disguises used to fool vigilant casino security.

The Bad
Holy Rollers definitely gives a glimpse into a strange world, but it is largely uncritical of its subjects, never really probing their beliefs that card counting and gambling are morally and spiritually acceptable as they divert money away from the much-decried casinos that deceive and rob ordinary people. There’s no evidence that any of the money made goes to charity and it seems that the groups’ founders Ben and Colin in particular, despite their much-voiced religious views, appear more interested in business plans and playing than bibles and praying. Given the rather easy ride these two are allowed in their interviews, it’s no surprise to see them both credited as producers.

Worth Seeing?
Holy Rollers is an intriguing documentary but one that never makes the most out of its idiosyncratic subject.