The Man Who Sued God (2001)

An ex lawyer now fisherman sees his fishing boat sunk by a lightning. His insurance company claims "Act of God". Sue the insurance company or God/churches?

Director:

Mark Joffe

Writers:

Don Watson, John Clarke (based on an original screenplay by)

Stars:

Billy Connolly, Judy Davis, Colin Friels

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Billy Connolly	...	Steve Myers
Judy Davis	...	Anna Redmond
Colin Friels	...	David Myers
Wendy Hughes	...	Jules Myers
Bille Brown	...	Gerry Ryan
John Howard	...	Edward Piggott
Emily Browning	...	Rebecca Myers
Blair Venn	...	Les
Vincent Ball	...	Cardinal
Tim Robertson	...	Judge Bonaface
Linal Haft	...	Rabbi
Peter Whitford	...	Moderator
Frank Whitten	...	Primate
Steve Jacobs	...	Hal
Richard Carter	...	Dirk Streicher

Storyline

Sir Billy Connolly plays Steve Myers, a lawyer who became a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed, he is denied insurance money because it was "an act of God". He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and the church, under the guise of God, defending himself. The accident leads him to a friendship and eventual relationship with a journalist, Anna Redmond (Judy Davis).

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Plot Keywords:

insurance | lawyer | act of god | lightning | media | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The Bollywood movie OMG: Oh My God! (2012), starring Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal, was inspired by this movie.

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Goofs

The radio announcer continuously bad-mouths Steve Myers' case on-air. However, in Australia it is illegal for radio announcers to comment about current court cases on air. To do so is to commit the crime of "sub judice." The radio announcer most likely would have known this. On the other hand, Steve's case being against an all-powerful being, he and/or the court would be hard-pressed to claim that anything said in the media could disadvantage him any worse, so journalists might not fear being found in contempt.

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Quotes

Rabbi: [about his Christian counterparts] They're praying to God. They should be praying for better lawyers.

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Connections

Remade as Frank vs. God (2014)

User Reviews

Good premise, but it backs out at the end

Aside from it's flaws i did enjoy this movie a great deal, the story builds nicely and Billy Connolly holds together the plot despite the delicacy of the premise and the flaws in the script.

As a comedy it is well worth watching, it's crammed with subtle humour throughout; it's also enjoyable as a romance, again it's subtle, but it's steady and quite heartwarming, despite the clichés.

The story itself is very intriguing, it successfully provokes your thoughts and captures your imagination with interesting questions; but it fails to draw sufficient conclusion at the finale, and it did feel like a bit of a let down.

6/10 It's still worth watching.

Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 2001 (Australia)

Also Known As:

The Man Who Sued God

Filming Locations:

Bermagui, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,976,023

Company Credits

Production Co:

Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), New South Wales Film & Television Office, Showtime Australia

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1