God Said, Ha!

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Entertainment: +1 1/2

Content: -1

This one-woman filmed stage show features Julia Sweeney, a former member of televisions SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE cast. The stand-up comedian became famous for her "Pat" character on that show whose sexual identity was impossible to determine. Now Ms. Sweeney plays herself, describing her life since she moved back to Los Angeles. She leaves New York when she divorced, and looks forward to living alone and doing exactly as she pleases. But soon after she moves into her dream house, her brother Michael is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Since he has no family or insurance, Julia becomes his caretaker. Then their parents decide that they, too, should move in with Julia to help with Michael. How this cosmopolitan actress and writer copes with her traditional, unsophisticated parents in this tragic setting becomes an amazingly witty and clever one-person stage presentation. Its all dialogue and with no commercial breaks, GOD SAID, HA, becomes tiresome after about 45 minutes. It would be more appropriate for a television special.

Comedian Julia says her parents are both the source of much of her material and the cause of many years of therapy. Indeed, most of the dialogue makes fun of her parents refusal to recognize Julia and Michael as grownups while acting like two spoiled children living in the past. Still, the family bonds are strong, and their Catholic upbringing is referred to several times. Julia seems embarrassed about religion, however, and even compares buying a book by the Pope to buying pornography. She apologizes to her dying brother when a priest gives him last rites. She also makes fun of her mothers group of Catholic women who shop for a happier looking figure of Christ on the crucifix to put in their church. Finally, however, Julia acknowledges how loving and supportive her parents were and how much closer they became through this very difficult time. There is no sex or nudity, but Julia refers to the difficulty she and her boyfriend have finding privacy for sex. She also makes a crude comment about passing gas, a few crudities, one obscenity and one regular profanity. The lesson in this movie is very clear: God often says "ha" in our neat, well-planned lives, giving us a chance to grow.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor:
Miramax Films, 375 Greenwich, NY, NY 10013

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Few (2) timesModerate

Obscene Language: Once (s word)

Profanity: Several (6) timesRegular 1 (GD), Exclamatory 5

Violence: None

Sex: None

Nudity: None

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Few times (single woman refers to having sex with boyfriend, mentions fantasy of naked man chasing her)

Drugs: None, but reference to man selling marijuana and cancer patient taking it

Other: Woman seems embarrassed by religion, makes fun of Pope and statue of Christ; joke about passing gas

Running Time: 75 minutes
Intended Audience:


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