This is a strange offering that is part swinger party and
part religious brainwashing. I’m not sure what the target audience was, but it
would make for a pretty narrow demographic.
Mimi Rogers, who is excellent throughout, stars as Sharon, a
bored phone operator who gets her thrills through having sex with random
couples, along with her sleazy boyfriend. One of these couples includes David
Duchovny, and the two start a relationship on the side.
Sharon is aware of some co-workers talking about God and
seems to laugh it off, but one night at 3am she shoves David (who has the
excellent character name ‘Randy’) out of bed as she needs to change the sheets.
Well, we’ve all been there. She decides her whole life is dirty and she
needs to find God.
We get other clues along the way that she may not be a total
nut, such as a vision she has of a pearl, having first seen it on a swinger’s
tattoo. She joins a religious sect centred around ‘The Boy’, a wise child who tells them that
God will be back in five or six years. Kind of a loose arrangement, it would seem.
Mimi is totally bought in at this stage even going so far as to offer religious
direction to people ringing her for a phone number. She seeks out now former love Randy, who is also
a lost soul, and the two get back together.
We jump forward six years and learn that God has yet to show up, but at least he told Randy to ditch the mullet. They all eagerly await the
Rapture with the now teenage ‘The Boy’ telling them it’s this year for sure.
Shouldn’t have used Evri for the delivery, I guess.
Tragedy strikes however, when Randy is killed in a workplace shooting, leaving Sharon alone with their annoying daughter. Randy's death only affirms Sharon's beliefs and she decides that her vision of Randy in a photoshop window is enough to
send her to the desert to await the big moment.
Once again, God is delayed. I’m sure he must be at the
baggage carousel by now. Sharon decides that she’ll speed things up by
shooting her daughter, as you do. The once friendly policeman, who clearly needed better
safeguarding training, arrests her and sticks her in a cell with another God
botherer. Unfortunately, Sharon has given up on God as he let her shoot her own
daughter – free will anyone?- so when the rapture does arrive, she’s not
onboard.
The Rapture is a bit low rent with some horns and people on horses and more smoke than an 80's rock video. We do get overlaid hoofbeats and those who accept God are sent on their way with a mechanism somewhere between ‘Star Trek’ and Thanos. Sharon, who refuses to forgive the Almighty, is left in purgatory – will she proclaim her love for God or will she hang about in the dark for all eternity?
I quite enjoyed this film but I wasn’t totally buying Sharon
who went from carefree slut to pious worshipper to then outright denier in the
three acts. Her initial conversion seemed a bit urgent with little in the way
of doubt seen before she decided that she was right and that everyone she’d
previously scoffed were on the ball after all. Mimi was great although a bit more
modest at first as she held the bedsheets tight to her chest in the bed scenes.
Later on she was a bit more of her carefree self. I see this film was made around
the time she split from Tom Cruise so maybe that was a factor. The film poster makes the production look like a sex romp, so no doubt there were a few disappointed cinema goers when this was released!
The whole endeavour was clearly low budget, but I liked the almost Ray Bradburyesque conspiracy with people muttering away about their visions in the background. It gave the film a sense of unease and I wasn't sure if we were going to find redemption or mental illness at the end. Believers were found in all sorts of places and it was fun when Sharon gets pulled in by her boss for God bothering the callers before he reveals he’s seen the light himself!
There are large portions of the film that seem like a recruitment video for the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Sharon was all over the place with her conflicted mental states. It was however a decent ride and offered a few questions, albeit with no real answers - if you want answers, I'd recommend 'This Is the End'.
THE Tag Line : Praise Be! 64%