The Making of '...And God Spoke'

AND GOD SPOKE brilliantly portrays what can go wrong on a movie shoot. Its one drawback: You have to be working in films to truly appreciate the dead-on portrayals of clueless workers, egomaniac directors and interfering producers, and the 'compromises' made to get the film done. All these basic realities of real film production are hilariously exaggerated here. It's too close for comfort sometimes.

This is one of the funniest films made in the last decade and it is well worth seeing--particularly if you are in film or are considering it as a career.

It's a good enough flick to watch, especially if you're into making movies for film class. It's not one of those movies you rush out and see; but one of those movies you pick up when you've lapped the video store twice and say "why the hell not".

Today I tried watching a mockumentary about a cheesy production of a fake film. However, "Guns of the Clackamas" simply wasn't funny though I was hoping it was an other "...And God Spoke". In fact, in my review, I complained about this--and strongly recommended people see the earlier film, "...And God Spoke". Imagine my surprise, then, when I checked and saw that I had never reviewed this 1993 film! This is surprising, as I loved the film and strongly recommend it to anyone who loves Christopher Guest's mockumentaries. Now "...And God Spoke" is not as sophisticated and hip as the Guest films (especially "Best in Show"), but there is a wonderful cheesiness that is quite endearing.

This film is a fake documentary in which a porno production company wants to make a 'quality film'. So, they naturally picked the most prestigious sort of film--a Biblical epic!! The resulting film is in terrible taste and looks a lot like a porno-Biblical film! But what makes it even funnier are all the behind the scenes bits--such as the appearance of Eve Plumb in the film and her resulting lawsuit as well as seeing Soupy Sales as Moses! It's all real and goofy--and strikes a wonderful balance between looking crappy yet being entertaining and insightful.

By the way, because of the subject matter, this film might offend the easily offended. Think twice about showing this film to young kids or your mother-in-law!

Some say this was similar to "This is Spinal Tap." I don't think so. It was a mockumentary but otherwise there's no comparison between the two. The focus was the making of a Biblical epic, and while these two filmmakers have no problem getting the finances, they run through so many troubles that the film turns out to be a real turkey. (Ranging from the Eve character not wanting to display nudity to a product placement scheme showing Moses holding a six pack of coke.)

This predates 'Living in Oblivion' (which is similar, and much better) but it was still a funny satire on Independent Filmmaking.

No, this is not Spinal Tap. It is similar in the sense that it is a "mockumentary" but has it's own merits. For anyone who loves movies and knows even a little bit about the process of putting one together, "And God Spoke" should make you laugh quite hard. It's also a perfect example of how NOT to make a movie. You know it's funny when these guys try to make this inspiring bible epic and no one has a bible on set. A certain product placement scene is one of the most funny movie moments of the last 10 years. Plus, there's nothing like watching the director's face when he realizes the Ark constructed for the film is too big to fit through the stage doors. Trust me, if you're fortunate enough to come across this in a video store, rent it!