 The movie cost $3-million-plus to make.A "Los Angeles Times" article noted that both Peters and Spacey said "they had doubts about taking part in the show because of the caricature, "Saturday Night Live" aspect of their characters", but were assured that they would not play caricatures.The "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer wrote that "Kevin Spacey as Jim and Bernadette Peters as Tammy are absolutely fabulous" but that, in a "miscalculation", the "movie they're in is so petrified of offending religious viewers that it pulls back."