An Interview with God

First of all, it's another of those God is the Supreme Being stories and does not answers much. Both the actors did a pretty good job and were good, sadly the story was not that great. More or less this is a movie that will mostly appeal to theist and to be particular, only Christians. More or less a sister movie to 'God is not dead'.

Not worth a watch on big screen, you will regret the tickets and the 4x price popcorns.

There's an intriguing philosophy at work behind this seemingly meandering story, dealing with issues of blind faith, the morality of the divine and the challenges of 'staying on the path' in the modern world. However, what lets the film down is the morose and plodding nature of its execution that left it struggling to hold my attention between its titular interview scenes; while its conflict is confused and seemingly overcome by a mere change in mood rather than any attempt to address issues constructively.

When one watches a movie with this title, it goes without saying that getting upset at concepts and presentation of religion and faith would be pretty stupid. It would be equally foolish to expect the movie to follow one's personal beliefs. So there are two bits of poor-review nonsense hopefully set out of the way, and we can get to the movie itself.

This starts out excellent: interesting premise, good acting, good characters. Both lead actors really do an excellent job in their roles and up until about halfway through the first of three "interviews", it holds up. But that's when the foundation starts crumbling and a movie that had great potential begins stumbling along.

It's not that the story line isn't interesting. There's a plot twist that is very well done and really adds to the story. It's too bad that degree of ingenuity didn't continue throughout the film.

One hopes that a presentation like this would present a bit of wisdom, wit and at least enough philosophy to make one think on important subjects. The problem is this film skirts around the important subjects with trite and incomplete answers. Parts of the movie were absurdist from a faith standpoint. Fortunately there weren't many such issues. Just the opposite in fact, as the writers and director seemed almost afraid to tackle the tough questions . They asked them... but repeatedly failed to provide any semblance of an answer.

About halfway through the film I got so fed up with "God" answering questions with a question that I wanted to strangle the writers, and some might consider it justifiable homicide.

In the end the story line fizzled out, we were (predictably) left with more questions than answers, and the theme of the show seemed to slowly teeter and face-plop. At the beginning I had high hopes, but by the end all such hope had been abandoned and we were left with the reality that this was simply another pretentious, goes-nowhere-really thud film. I wish that were not the case; would that the story had lived up to the actors potential and the message have worked-- or more accurately, that there had been a message. That's not something I can discuss without spoilers, so I'll just say that this film falls considerably short of it's potential... and that we've seen better such films. Several better such films.

This movie is exactly what it presented itself to be... and sadly not much more to challenge one's thinking beyond that. But to the actors: good job, really. Wish they'd have had better material to work from... and a far better purpose to the film.

This isn't really a movie. It's a religious/philosophical treatise disguised as a movie. The plot is that a religious journalist has an interview with a person claiming to be god. The standard pattern of these things is that the interviewer, who is the stand-in for the audience, at first thinks he's talking to a crazy person but gradually comes to believe he is actually talking to god. The movie hopes the audience will come along for the ride and give the ideas presented the weight thereof.

The fundamental problem with anything like this is that it is so effing arrogant. I mean, could you be more self-indulgent and arrogant than to say you can define the personage and motives of the creator of the universe? Beyond that there is the secondary problem in that the movie is taking a stand of sorts on which religions are correct. If the movies espoused beliefs happen to align with your own you may not see a problem with that, but I don't care for that approach because it reduces god to a kind of supernatural parent confessing to the audience that he has a favorite child. It might feel great to hear "god" say you are his (her/its) favorite, but I have a problem with any idea that sounds like the central thesis of a religious war.

Anyway, I don't want to go into any more detail because this is a really touchy subject for so many people, but I'll just say instead that I don't think this is a very good film; it's preachy, judgmental, and not interactive. You have to sit there and listen to them regurgitate their belief system all over you, something better suited for a sermon at your house of worship then as entertainment.

A Christian(?) film about salvation, love, repentance and forgiveness - although the route by which we are reconciled to God, Jesus, is only lightly touched. If you could talk to God, face to face, what questions would you ask? Think hard here, our protagonist asked some questions the were really complaints, and some questions to which he knew the answers, but refused to accept he did. Atheists and sceptics spin round in circles pointing to this and that as evidence that God does not exist. They never seem to look inwards and compare themselves to the standards they expect others to live up to. A world of perfect people would be perfect, and in this excellent movie God keeps turning our hero back round to examine his own life that he so bitterly complains about. Eventually Paul gets the message. He made the mess, and it's within his own power to fix his life.

There were moments of theological weakness, but I liked the God character. Patient, loving and generous. I thought it was right, we don't want easy answers or quick fixes from God, our free will and drive would be destroyed. The character Paul was at the lower end of spiritual maturity, at first. Proud, stubborn and determined to avoid responsibility, whatever the cost. Insisting God wave his magic wand. At the end of the movie he has grown considerably, grasping his life and transforming it, using the wisdom gained from his encounter with God.

Watch this movie, learn how love, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation can transform your life, Christian or not.....