Beinahe ein Engel

Paul Hogan (in ... Angel) has to rate just a tad higher than Jon Voight (in Coming Home) and that says a lot about a Stars ability to credibly emote and indulge in meaning-full social intercourse.

Folks with disabilities want to be treated just like ... folks. Period! And Hogan's scene in the pub where he was going to "fight" the paraplegic was so totally incredible!

Why am I so enthusiastic about this film? I have lived with a disability since 1949, and used a wheelchair since 1957.

Love to contact Hogan and have him "Chat" about his take on disability ... in the real. I'm sure he'd come across just like a HERO!

Once again, the husband-and-wife duo of Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski - team up for a film, as they did in the Crocodile Dundee series.

At face value, this appears to be a fun and appealing family film with the likable Hogan playing an angel. Even though he's a charming "angel" with a good heart and a good sense of humor, this is no Biblical angel, that's for sure. Actually, he's an almost mortally-wounded man who thinks he died and is an angel "on probation." So what you get is the Liberal ideal of what an "angel" would be (see above) but who also uses the Lord's name in vain, cheats and lies - not exactly according to the Book. Of course, part of that is played strictly for laughs.

Overall, it's still what they call a "cute" movie. I guess you could also call it a good "date" movie.

Just like Crocodile Dundee this is a humor-packed film from beginning to end. Paul Hogan is as charming and charismatic as ever and the jokes are at five minute-intervals, enough to make it a somewhat serious (and sad) film.I am glad I stumbled across this film, as I think you will be.

Paul Hogan plays a criminal who steps out in front of traffic to save a child, and becomes an Angel... almost. He says he's on probation, sorta... but what are you to believe? Is he nuts? Hmmm. Maybe. The humor and light-sided religiousness makes this film a delight.

Don't worry about being converted or anything, this is an open-ended movie with morals, granted, but also with that special touch of human bonding, and what it means to love others.

Hogan's writing, directing, and acting career spans just 6 films that I know of, and this is a lesser known one... I had the feeling at the end that it was looking for a sequel, or a TV series. No such luck.

Magical, humorous, charming, disarming, alarming, and inspiring... see it at least once.

Terry Dean is an exceptional career criminal, after his release from prison he is hit by a car whilst saving a young boy. He awakes in what appears to be a heavenly place, and much to his surprise he is visited by a deity and told that he is on probation, he is in short...almost an angel.

Paul Hogan will forever be known as the bloke from Crocodile Dundee, a highly efficient fish out of water comedy that became a huge hit. However, the sequels and his other subsequent film's are either roundly ignored or highly frowned upon. That's a shame because Almost An Angel is a very engaging comedy, the sort of picture that stands up like a Capraesque piece for the 90s. It's the sort of fable that cheers one up when the blues draw in and then turn into a blackly dark cloud, yes it be true, old craggy faced Paul Hogan has the gift of comedy. True enough the doses of sentiment are at times like a treacle itch to be scratched, but is that a bad thing? Watching a street wise criminal turning his less than honourable skills into a thing of goodness?

The film has many visual gags to go with the ream of religious ones that flow within the piece, be it Hogan attempting to fly or a quiet word about Elvis, Almost An Angel delights if one accepts the nature of the beast. Linda Kozlowski again teams up with Hogan (after the earlier Crocodile Dundee pairing), here she has very little to do but she slots in very nicely, even if a pre-end credits sequence does her and everyone else no favours at all. The best actor on show is the criminally undervalued Elias Koteas, playing the wheelchair bound Steve Garner, he exudes a believability factor that many modern day actors can learn from, where, the ability to act with just your face is high art if it's done correctly. Check out both the first and last scenes that Koteas shares with Hogan, great stuff that seems to have been forgotten due to the disdain shown for this particular film.

I rate it 7/10 because it hits my spot when I need a pick me up, perhaps that is too high in this age where comedy is the hardest genre to succeed in? But don't believe the low rating here on this site, it's a delightful little comedy that is far from perfect, but hell! It's a heavenly piece knowingly incorporating the serious side of religious beliefs.