God Said Ha! 3 1/2 Stars (Out of 4) Reviewed by Mac VerStandig critic@moviereviews.org http://www.moviereviews.org September 12, 1999 Available for Rental - September 14, 1999
Sharp, witty and charming, God Said Ha! is a pleasure to watch. The film strikes a particularly refreshing cord with its down-to-earth, realistic subject matter: A woman who finds herself in the prime of her life, then encounters a change so awful, so upsetting, and so unfair; that she discovers humor beneath all the misery that surrounds her.
Julia Sweeney is 30-something years old, recently divorced, and ready to leave New York City. She saves up some cash, buys herself the ultimate bachelor-pad outside of Los Angeles, and prepares for the first day of the rest of her life. Just when she thinks that nothing could get in her way, everything does.
Julia's brother becomes ill with cancer and soon requires constant attention. Not only does he move in with her, but both her parents do as well. She finds herself sneaking around like a teenager, returning to the ways of her childhood. (Like having to say "Noodles with the red topping" since "Pasta with marinara sauce" is too formal.)
The film is based on a play written by Sweeney, which had a successful run on the west coast. She is the only person on stage, except for a brief appearance by Quentin Tarantino at the end. There is no real set other than a few scattered pieces of furniture.
It would be a misconception to assume that since Sweeney is a Saturday Night Live alumni, and did appear in two rather unfortunate SNL films (It's Pat and Stuart Saves his Family), that this movie is of a like nature. She seems to have fully shed all the mediocre aspects of Lorne Michael's films, and found her own style. Not only do all the jokes work well, but the cheesy and often embarrassing aspects of the aforementioned titles are absent.
God Said Ha! is a wonderful movie. Whether it be the jokes about disappearing ovaries, or the touching stories of a terminally ill man; this film is well worth a look.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews