Commandments

The idea (a man thinks he has been targeted for suffering by God, so he decides to get his revenge by breaking the Ten Commandments one by one) is intriguing. It's so intriguing, in fact, that this was one of the very rare instances where I happened to rent a film without having heard a single thing about it beforehand, based solely on the plot synopsis on the video cover instead. Unfortunately the film turned out to be a messy talkathon. It is certainly offbeat and beautifully photographed, but it seems to lack a clear sense of direction, of where it is going and what point it is trying to make, and the characters are not sufficiently developed. The writer-director of this film poses thought-provoking, eternal theological questions ("If God is able but unwilling to prevent evil, isn't it logical to assume He is malevolent?"), but perhaps lacks the courage to follow his premise through to the end. (**)

Aidan Quinn ("Legends of the Fall") stars as Seth Warner, who recently has suffered one major setback after another: the tragic disappearance of his wife, the destruction of his house, and the loss of his job. And, for good measure, his dog is crippled by a bolt of lightning. Assuming that God himself has it in for him, Seth determines to get even by breaking all 10 of the Commandments.

Written & directed by Daniel Taplitz ("Breakin' All the Rules"), this dark comedy-drama is savvy enough to ask some pertinent theological questions, and has some good moments, but for this viewer, it didn't come off as well as I would have liked. Part of it is that I would have liked to see it get even darker, and go into more detail as the unhinged Seth broke those Commandments. Instead, it gets sappy & romantic as Seth falls in love with his neglected sister-in-law Rachel Luce (Courteney Cox, the "Scream" series), whom he initially just wanted to use re: the "thou shalt not covet thy neighbors' wife" Commandment.

The film has an effective offbeat quality, but Taplitz just doesn't follow through that interestingly on a grabber of a premise. It's too bad, because he does get solid performances out of his cast, with Anthony LaPaglia ('Without a Trace') rounding out the star trio as Rachels' slimy husband Harry, an investigative journalist. The character is amusingly scummy, and LaPaglia pretty much steals the show.

While such a film may initially bother some who are religious, it ultimately has enough going on that it could provoke some pertinent discussions afterwards.

Six out of 10.

Fine film about a man who lost his wife, and as a result begins to question the motives of God. He has all these emotional problems while his arrogant brother-in-law is doing fine while totally ignoring any religious commitments; which the brother-in-law makes his relative very aware of. However, in the end things do not remain the same for arrogant in-law. Nor for the man who lost his wife. This film may bother some Christians at first, but in the end I think this film will be accepted as giving a positive message about theology. The ending was surprising and gratifying.

This movie is really good. However, be warned, you will probably not like it if you are extremely religious, as it is about a man who tries to break all ten commandments. You will probably also like it better if you're a fan of one of the actors in it, as the plot is very strange and different, as well as dark. It has mostly romance and drama but also some comedy. The only part I really didn't like about this movie was the extremely unrealistic ending. However, that kind of added a sort of irony to the movie, and dry humor. So, in a nutshell, you should see this movie because it's good. Oh, and there's a dog in it too.

This film was pretty good, but could have been a lot better. It starts out great with impressive flashbacks, dialogue and scenery, flattens out into an almost boring retelling of the world's oldest and most used theme: good against evil, and then suddenly lifts itself up again in the last minute with a bizarre, biblical ending that I for one have never ever seen on film before. Parts of the film are very well written indeed, the black humor is great and the characters are actually fairly human and believable. But in the long run, the film ends up just confusing and a bit unsatisfactory.