Hes taking his case to the very top
Rating: 6/10
Running Time: 102 minutes
UK Certificate: 15
Steve Myers (Billy Connolly) is a man who hates the way people use God as some sort of all-purpose lying mechanism. When he says people, he really means insurance companies particularly as one of them has just used their act of God clause to weasel its way out of stumping up $150,000 for his lightning-zapped fishing boat.
So, as the title suggests, our Aussie-based Scot sets about taking Gods representatives on Earth the Church to court. Its a fascinating premise, and by the time youve sat through the numerous court scenes involved youll more than likely find yourself wondering whether it could actually happen.
Unfortunately, its also far too lightweight a scenario to fill an entire feature-length production, which is why were left with a film so heavily peppered with forced romantic interludes, family-based sub-plots and unconvincing pseudo-whimsy. Its also billed as a comedy though, light-hearted as the bulk of it is, theres a serious scarcity of genuinely funny moments.
Connolly does a decent enough job, though playing a shaggy Weegie who uses the letter F when he gets worked up isnt exactly a major strain for him. Youll see a more genuine version of the same persona, only funnier, in any of his stand-up routines.
This isnt a bad film by any means. The actings passable, it makes for reasonable entertainment and it even manages to be thought-provoking. But it also suffers from an almost half-hearted approach to comedy and, most disappointingly of all an horrendously bad ending. If youre curious about the overall premise or are a Connolly fan then by all means give it a whirl, but dont pay to get into this one expecting to see anything thatll change your life. The truth is, in a weeks time you probably wont even remember seeing it.
It's Got: Some understandably disgruntled religious-types.
It Needs: Big jobby! Doesnt Billy ever say that anymore??
Summary
A decent, if largely forgettable, attempt at getting one over on the insurance companies.