OH, GOD! BOOK II (PG)
Directed by Gilbert Cates Running Time: 94 minutes Originally Released: 1980
Reviewed by E. Benjamin Kelsey
* * ½ (out of four)
In 1977, a light hearted comedy about God was released with a not too ambiguous title: OH, GOD! It starred John Denver and George Burns, both of whom are now dead (meaning Burns is just a tad closer to his role than he was over twenty years ago). It spawned two sequels, the first of which followed the original's premise to a great extent - God comes down to Earth to initiate a spokesperson of sorts, all the while causing an uproar over this person's highly unbelievable testimony. Perhaps as a motive to attract a swarm of movie-goers to the film, OH, GOD! BOOK II made the spokesperson into an 11-year-old girl, capable of warming hearts with her innocent smile. Nice touch - if the story couldn't captivate audiences a second time around, maybe an adorable little girl could.
The girl in question is Tracy (played by uniname actress, Louanne), the child of divorced parents still holding grudges toward one another. At a Chinese restaurant on her weekly night out with dad, Tracy makes an innocent passing comment about having faith in God, and before she knows it, her fortune cookies are a bit too personalized. It seems God (played again by George Burns) liked young Tracy's insight, and via the fortune cookies, He instructs her to meet Him in the lounge. It takes a bit of convincing (i.e. doors opening and closing by themselves) to assure Tracy this isn't just a hoax, but when God finally has her full attention, He tells her the reason behind this personal revelation: He wants Tracy to come up with a slogan to remind people that He's still out there. After all, the world definitely could give the Big Guy some overly due recognition. Thus, in a blaze of confused astonishment, Tracy agrees to try and come up with something over the next week (and agrees not to cheat by passing the task on to her advertising agent of a father).
Enlisting the aid of a pre-teen is a smart move, especially when adults seem way too busy and out of touch to really hone in on such an important task. Of course, who's going to turn down a guy who has the ability to shove a lightning bolt up your wazoo? As stated above in simpler terms, the spokesperson (Tracy) will deliver God's message (the slogan "Think God") and cause a big hoopla as people begin deeming him/her crazy (parents, teachers, shrinks, etc.). When Tracy gets all the kids in her school to participate in a "promote God" campaign (more or less), parents and faculty complain. Yes, even in the conservative world of 1980, public school is not to be used as a religious pulpit. Psychologists blame the "hallucinations" on the parent's divorce, the parents question each other, and although it's not shown, I'm sure someone blames it on a bad plate of sushi.
OH, GOD! BOOK II hasn't aged as gracefully as George Burns (not that I've seen him in the last couple of years), but it's still not a bad film by any means. Still suffering from the anguishable 1970's, 1980 isn't all that pleasant to look at, but nonetheless offers an overly sweet tale of a little girl's struggle to do what's right. That's putting it even more impressively than it really is, but at least it's an innocent film that families can enjoy together without a barrage of mindless vulgar comments. Yes, the color brown dominates every frame and the only contrast seems to be dark rouge plastered in thick smudges across Suzanne Pleshette's cheeks, but the story outlasts the horrendous fashions. The legitimate complaint should be about the film's pacing, which is a bit tedious from today's standards. There are way too many stops and starts that seem due more to it's time than to unprofessional film- making. These lulls could easily lead to distraction, but with a bit more effort than today's movies require, you can keep yourself focused.
Next time you head to the video store, you'll likely find tons of choices that far exceed this film. Fair or not, older films, save it be classics (which this clearly is not), just don't have the appeal of an even more lame but fairly recent movie. As awful as it is, you'll probably pick up THE PEST from the new release wall before you decide to mosey over into the "old" movies and pick this one up. True, this isn't so recommendable that I urge you to seek it out, but it is an O.K. alternate when all those new releases are checked out.
February 20, 1998
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