"Hello everyone, my name is G."      

HOLY MAN (PG) 

Reviewed October 10, 1998 - Check out the Holy Man Website.

Last week it was an ant named "Z", this week it's a holy man named "G."  Starring Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum, and Kelly Preston, Holy Man is a cautionary tale wrapped in a comedy (or a comedy wrapped in a cautionary tale...it's hard to tell) about a gentle, loving, spiritual man named G (Murphy) who one day encounters Ricky Hayman (Goldblum) and Kate Newell (Preston), two hard-nosed television programming execs who are fixing a flat tire on the side of the road.  Hayman and Newell work for the Good Buy Shopping Network (GBSN), a struggling home-shopping channel selling just about everything imaginable under the sun.  For the TV execs, the operative word here is sell, sell, sell, but when G finds his way into the picture, things begin to change.

Accidentally stumbling onto the set at a live taping at GBSN one day, G begins to espouse his philosophical beliefs about life, speaking out against materialism, consumerism, and just about everything else that a home-shopping channel might stand for.  As you'd imagine, the network goes berzerk, and Hayman is quickly fired by GBSN owner McBainbridge (Robert Loggia).  Ah, but G has made a connection with the audience, and before you know it, Hayman is re-hired, G is on the air once again, and the network's sales shoot through the roof as people tune in to listen and buy from their new home-shopping televangelist...

Okay, so the setup for Holy Man is somewhat intriguing...a spiritual guru that captures the nation's attention via a home shopping channel.  If it were an all-out, no-holds-barred comedy, this movie might have worked.  If it were a fully developed, thought-provoking satire, it also might have worked.  Unfortunately, Holy Man is neither, and for the most part it definitely does not work.  Though Murphy's performance is generally engaging throughout, and though there were a couple of genuinely funny moments in this film, the overall effect of Holy Man is surprisingly unsatisfying.  Directed by Stephen Herek (101 Dalmatians, Mr. Holland's Opus), Holy Man is a film that clearly doesn't know where it wants to go.  It's like a funny story that decides it has a serious lesson to teach, or a parable that decides it want to be funny too...what you usually get is a funny story that forgets its punchline, or a parable that forgets its lesson.  Sadly, this is where Holy Man falls.  I hate to say this, but if you've seen the previews for Holy Man, you've really seen the best bits it has to offer...feel free to skip the rest.

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

Kerry Hagner gives this movie  stars: "This movie is so funny I want to watch it a Hundered times it is so good I Think Eddie, is funny, nice caring, sweetand has a good Heart." (6/20/99)

hmccorvey@tyler.net gives this movie  stars: "This is an alright movie. It's not classic Eddie Murphy, but it was kind of funny. There is a good undertone about morality in this movie that makes it legitimate; otherwise, it is kind of slap-stick!" (2/4/99)

CRose111@aol.com gives this movie  star: "The only thing good about this movie was Jeff Goldblum." (12/14/98)