The man who sued God

By PETER CALDER

(Herald rating: * * * )

Based on an original idea by John Clarke (the artist formerly known as Fred Dagg), this Australian offering is a genial comedy that turns distressingly soft-headed at the end.

Never mind that it would be hard to find the words "Act of God" in any 21st-century insurance policy: Clarke plainly mused on the possibility of bringing suit, if insurance companies sought to hide behind this archaic phrase, against the Almighty's Earthly representatives.

That's just what lawyer-turned-fisherman Steve Myers (Connolly) does when a bolt of lightning causes his fishing boat to sink and the man on the top floor at Monarch Alliance pushes his claim back across the desk with a shrug and a "sorry".

In the process he becomes equal parts cultural hero and nemesis of the fundamentalists and gives the top brass of the various churches (a delightfully lugubrious convocation including our own Frank Whitten) a hell of a fright.

The role was plainly tailored for Connolly and there are lines so reminiscent of his stand-up that they feel forced, although his manic energy manages for the most part to keep them afloat. The big speeches work better when designed to advance the film's central premise that insurance companies use the God as a "giant, all-purpose lying mechanism".

Equally, the idea that the churches' counsel in the law suit can win only by proving God does not exist has a certain metaphysical appeal.

The film is energetically directed (by the man who made Cosi and Spottswood) within budget restraints that are sometimes painfully plain (the "Australian Federal Court" looks like a church hall in a provincial city) but it's among the minor characters that the holes appear. Davis, fussy and muddled, plainly never had her heart in the role of a high-profile journalist who becomes Myers' confederate and love interest and Friels is wasted as Connolly's lawyer brother, particularly when the film can't make up its mind whether he's villain or secondary hero.

But the movie is a diverting second-rate piece of
whimsy which should send you running to check the fine print on your insurance policy.

Cast: Billy Connolly, Judy Davis, Colin Friels

Director: Mark Joffe

Running time: 100 mins

Rating: M (low level offensive language)

Screening: Village, Hoyts