Tortilla Heaven is a low budget indie comedy about a small town (and by small, I mean population 73, disconnected from the highway, townsfolk genuinely believe in witchcraft small) in New Mexico, where talented but struggling restaurant owner Isidor (Jos̩ Z̼̱iga) Рthe only one in the town who has skipped church Рdiscovers a perfectly sketched face of Jesus burned onto one of his tortillas.

And it’s really perfectly formed. Not like those images of Jesus that look a bit like him if you squint properly. This one looks like Frank Miller drew it.

The Holy tortilla brings miracles to the town (or at least a car starts and pig is revived) followed by riches and progress, but at a cost. Because the moneyman who rides into town named Gil Garcia (Miguel Sandoval) is clearly up to no good. He knows it, I know it, and you’d know it too if you took one look at him. But apparently Isidor and the rest of the townsfolk see no problem and happily sign contracts with this literally devilish man, without even reading them.

The cast is largely Latino and Native American, and includes George Lopez in a supporting role as a bumbling cop. Unfortunately Lopez doesn’t get much chance to be funny, because it feels like everyone of the 73 townspeople has their own little sub-plot, none of which ever feel that important.

Director Judy Hecht Dumontet makes some odd choices. Several events don’t feel properly motivated (such as the impossibly naive contract signings and several arguments) with the only explanation being divine (or the devil’s) intervention, or maybe just plain old idiocy. And it’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many screen wipes and irises used as scene transitions.

So this isn’t Citizen Kane, but for all the flaws it’s also very hard to dislike. Maybe it’s because the low budget is obvious, maybe it’s because the central performances by Zúñiga and Sandoval are solid or maybe it’s because (for the most part) Tortilla Heaven doesn’t take itself too seriously. Could even be the homemade food in Isidor’s restaurant, which looks so good I want to bite into the screen (don’t worry I know better).

But the most convincing reason it’s hard to be too cynical about Tortilla Heaven is that the film isn’t cynical either. Between religious movies calculatingly designed to repeat the success of The Passion of the Christ and part Christian folk with their cash (The Nativity Story) and ultra-cynical satires on Christianity (Saved!) there’s something to be said for a film like Tortilla Heaven that can revolve a religious theme around simple people without having an agenda. Shame about all the screen wipes though…

Tortilla Hevan opens in select theaters March 16th.