The Best Two Years



The Best Two Years is a 2003 movie about the various experiences of four Mormon missionaries in the Netherlands. The story addresses one missionary's crisis of faith, along with the rather universal themes of annoying roommates, frustration at one's job, being the new person, and public embarrassment. It is very much Better Than It Sounds.

The movie opens with a brand-new missionary, Elder Calhoun, arriving in Holland on a train. He is a very gung-ho cowboy/nerd from Oklahoma who can't speak a word of intelligible Dutch and understands little more.

His companion is Elder Rogers, a rather lazy missionary who likes photography. He used to be a hard worker, but news from home about his girlfriend's leaving him for another man has made him wonder just what he's doing.

The other set of missionaries are Elder Johnson and Elder Van Pelt. Elder Johnson is the righteous one who keeps the other guys in check, but in a nice way. Elder Van Pelt is a snob who wears silky pajamas and has a funny exercise tape to which he jazzercises every morning.

Hilarity Ensues, along with Fun with Foreign Languages, subverted Easy Evangelism, and a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. Definitely worth a watch.


 * Ambiguously Gay: Don't tell me you didn't get this vibe from Elder Van Pelt...
 * Deadpan Snarker: Elder Rogers and Elder Van Pelt.
 * Easy Evangelism: Subverted.
 * Foreign Queasine: Shown in a montage, where Elder Calhoun eats some stinky fish thing. On the other hand, those waffle/cookie things they keep eating look really good.
 * Fun with Foreign Languages
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: FLIP! FLIP! FLIP!
 * Grammar Nazi: Elder Van Pelt.
 * Grumpy Bear: Elder Rogers
 * Hollywood Nerd: Elder Calhoun
 * Knocking on Heathens' Door
 * The Missionary: The four central characters.
 * Only Sane Man: Elder Johnson, sometimes. Elder Rogers likes to think he is this.