The Man Who Sued God

2001
6.4| 1h37m| R| en
Details

A lawyer becomes a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed he is denied insurance money because it was “an act of God”. He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and, as God’s representative, The Church.

Director

Producted By

New South Wales Film & Television Office

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Reviews

PodBill Just what I expected
Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Roedy Green Billy Connolly is one of funniest comedians on the planet. This movie wasted 90% of his talent. Swearing, falling down, and scripted gags are not what he is for. He is known as a comic atheist. In the movie he plays an addled believer. The scruffy dog Arthur gets the biggest laughs.I expected the movie to play in a witty way with the notion of "act of god" and the lies churches and insurance companies perpetuate, but the banter was wooden and irrational. I repeatedly tuned out with boredom. The climax of the movie is a Hollywood-style CGI "miracle", corny as could be. The movie does not even have the intellectual weight of "Oh God".
Thomas Hardcastle I thought it was rubbish. The premise is interesting, but when you actually sit down and watch this, it becomes clear that the premise was the only thing that had been worked on.Poor script. Average acting. There isn't much about this film that can be commented on in a positive manner. They even added the usual love interest trash.This film is bad, but it's certainly not, "Gangs of New York," bad. This film, although a boring piece of cheap film-making is three times better than Gangs Of New York, which is why I've given it three out of ten. Never, ever watch Gangs Of New York, or you'll probably end up wanting to watch something three times better, like this piece of sheet.
Prophet Tenebrae One cannot deny that this is a piece that the "Big Yang" presumably made for the money. In many aspects, this is certainly very little in this film that deviates from the standard formula.It all revolves around good old Billy... so much so that toward the end when they are trying to fill the film out to 90 minutes, he spends a lot of time just loitering unwholesomely in Churches...I suppose that in some ways the idea behind this is wholly novel, really it never escapes the fact it wants to be a schmaltzy romance and a legal drama. Certainly the emphasis seems to be on Conolly all the way, perhaps to the exclusion of all else. As mentioned before, it can never be more than a star-vehicle for him.It does actually have a good point to make but really, any kind of point it tries to make it ignored for the bland happy ending and classic "bad guys lose" scenario.
email-99 When events happen that are not within predictable range, and there seems nothing for it but accept it as an act of god, many people accept it as inevitable. That's well and good for little things, but not when the event is ruinous, destructive or major. And especially when it's an event that causes a loss' where that loss was covered by insurance.That sort of loss befell our man, played with insight, verve and delicacy by Billy Connolly, in 'The Man Who Sued God'. What's important about this movie is that it's not about Billy Connolly, it's not him mugging for the camera and pulling stunts. It's a drama about a man in a tough situation, with romantic and comedic elements included. It's well written, played with truth and energy by the entire cast, and shot vividly, both for the exterior scenes of 'beautiful OZ', and the interiors, where so much of the action takes place.He's just had his fishing boat blown out of the water by a direct hit from lightening, and it's all covered by insurance. Until the small print comes into play, and the company refuses to pay, saying that the lightning strike was an act of God. There is no other recourse than the Courts, and our man sues God for the loss of his boat and livelihood.He sues all denominations of religion, as the servants and agents of God on Earth, and they all hire lawyers. It begins to look a bit like 'The Verdict' for a while, but the interplay between the different religions turns the action from that path, prior to deja vu setting in. There's courtroom drama that rings true, and interpersonal that carries the story forward without resorting to artificial devices. It's a drama with comedic moments and a romantic element, in a warm and compact package, which is a good thing.All in all, a feel-good movie without the smarminess -you can feel good about liking this one.