The Man Who Sued God

"The Man Who Sued God" - well, right from the start, it's an attention-grabbing name.

The story of retired lawyer Steve Myers (Billy Connolly), whose boat is struck by lightning and, well, he wouldn't beat the insurance companies, so theres gotta be _someone_ to sue, is... interesting to say the least. Connolly and Judy Davis are great, Billy in particular being roaringly funny at some points. Although for all its funniness the film raises some interesting questions as well, like: can the churches sue insurance companies for "breach of copyright" on the phrase "Acts of God"?

A great film.

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.

Billy Connolly plays a fisherman living in Australia, having given up law out of frustration with the ‘system'. When a freak of lightning wipes out his small fishing boat and the insurance companies refuse to pay (as it's an ‘act of God') he takes up law again to take on the system, the legal fiction, the churches and the big insurance companies. Although it's title and trailer maybe suggest a mindless slapstick (and it contains a fair amount of this), the film actually delivers something more mentally challenging and is successfully entertaining by dint of hard work on an initial premises rather than any series of fast jokes. Interesting conundrums about class actions, legal liability and the legal ramifications of the existence or non-existence of ‘God' abound, and the lead characters demonstrate a humanity that makes the comedy all the more touching.

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...

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.