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Van Elder's ragged but likable comedy "Divine Intervention" doesn't concern the struggle between sacred and profane so much as that between different kinds of sacred. As the Rev. Matthews (James Avery), the pastor of a Baptist congregation, convalesces, his place is taken by "acting shepherd" Robert Gibbs (Wesley Jonathan), whose flashy style brings in new converts but makes the old guard bristle.
With his broad smile and slick patter, Jonathan is more convincing as a man about town than a man of the cloth, especially once he sets his sights on his predecessor's agnostic daughter, Divine (Jazsmin Lewis). Deacon Gibbs does his best to convince her overprotective dad that he's only after spiritual communion, but he seems more concerned with getting her into his bed than into the pews.
Elder shoots the neighborhoods of South Los Angeles with obvious affection and populates...