The movie is a concert film consisting of 72 minutes of clips taken from Silverman's previous stand-up show of the same name, interspersed with flashbacks and comedic sketches.

Its performance led to an expanded release in as many as 57 theatres, resulting in a box office take of more than $1.2 million.

A soundtrack CD was also released featuring most of the musical numbers, excerpts from Silverman's stand-up comedy, and several additional songs which did not appear in the film.

A. O. Scott of The New York Times believed that the film's comedic value rests too heavily on the shock value of having such irreverent jokes delivered via the Jewish American Princess persona embodied by Silverman, writing "Most of the humor in 'Jesus Is Magic' depends on the scandal of hearing a nice, middle-class Jewish girl make jokes about rape, anal sex, the Holocaust and AIDS.

Using as an example of Silverman's off-color joke that “being raped by a doctor” could be “kind of bittersweet for a Jewish girl,” Benedictus concluded that “it's not the Jewish stereotype that really powers the laugh, or the perfect inappropriateness of [Silverman’s words], it's the flip of mood from: ‘Here's something you can't joke about’ to, ‘Oh yes you can.’ Dangerous – and liberating.” [4] Rotten Tomatoes gives the show a rating of 64%.