Der Mann, Der Gott Verklagte

I loved this film. This is meaningful if you share my criteria for enjoyable movies:

Mustn't shock me into nightmares. Must be well acted by engaging characters. Must touch the heart and keep me interested throughout. Must draw me fully into the "consideration" or thematic intention of the story, sparking my own pondering of life.

This film does all this and more. But most of all, it entertained me!

The story has a clever, but really believable premise... a quirky character (like me and my friends), finds himself blind-sided by an unpredictable series of events, and starts to question why and how this could have happened.

Rather than turn into emotional pulp, he rises to the occasion with humor, facing the unknown with growing intuition of how this "place" works... how mysterious and fluid life is... and what is required of a person to be a "man" (male or female).

But there is not an ounce of heaviness in this consideration of life and Reality. It's done with humor and surprises that keep me tickled throughout without dropping the thread of the deeper questioning.

I loved it, and have recommended it to all my friends.

I went to see this film following 3 favourable reviews on Urban Cinefile. Personally, I thought the film was pretty average. Its a courtroom drama that (in most cases) avoids the cliches of the genre. The editing seemed choppy to me; camera work was claustrophobic. It deals with religious issues well, and raises some questions about insurance industry practices. Billy connoly is great, as is judy davis (as always). nothing spectacular here though...

Everyone seems to be taking this movie waaaaaaay too seriously. Billy Connolly is terrific and the story is wonderful. A great feel good movie and except for the non-stop obscenities, would be a great family film. Terrific writing and great delivery. It's not meant to be an academy award winning drama...it's a comedy for heaven's sake. I never even knew who Billy Connolly was, and now I'm a fan. He's irreverent and incredibly funny, kind of like a Scottish George Carlin. People are complaining about the end, but even though it's a little hokey, it's still enjoyable. If you want to watch a movie with an unbelievably bad ending, watch Russel Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma. Now there's a bad ending.

Firstly, I did enjoy 'The man who sued God'. Billy Connolly is excellent, his wit and charm is on display throughout the film and it is very, very, funny, most of the time.

Unfortunately it is slightly too long and there are a few bits that could have been quite easily cut without harming the story.

Billy seems to spend an awful lot of time mooning around churches and the 'divine intervention' bit is embarassingly bad and entirely unnecessary. Quite frankly, whoever came up with this scene should be shot!

However having said that the film does have many qualities. The scenery is fantastic and the cast are generally excelent. Judy Davis is very good as the journo who takes an interest in Connolly's case. She strikes some nice romantic sparks of Connolly who is in great, swearing, ranting mode throughout. Colin Friels is also pretty good as Connolly's brother and Wendy Hughes is nice as the prickly but understanding ex-wife.

I can't imagine many Jews would be too pleased with the portrayal of the Rabbi "So, we just prove there is no God, ...who cares!" seems to be his attitude, but generally the film is pretty amusing with an interesting premise.

As I say there is at lease one totally shoddy scene and some unnecessary wandering that could have been fixed by a decent editor but still, if not a classic, still a genuinely funny film and well worth seeing.

By the way Connolly gives a fantastic (and quite different) acting performance as an ex-con artist in the Debt Collecter (1999). Get a hold of this Scottish thriller if you are a Connolly fan as it is absolutely brilliant.

Aside from it's flaws i did enjoy this movie a great deal, the story builds nicely and Billy Connolly holds together the plot despite the delicacy of the premise and the flaws in the script.

As a comedy it is well worth watching, it's crammed with subtle humour throughout; it's also enjoyable as a romance, again it's subtle, but it's steady and quite heartwarming, despite the clichés.

The story itself is very intriguing, it successfully provokes your thoughts and captures your imagination with interesting questions; but it fails to draw sufficient conclusion at the finale, and it did feel like a bit of a let down.

6/10 It's still worth watching.