The Man Who Sued God

By EWAN McDONALD

(Herald rating: * * * )

Don't you really want to love this video? It's written by John Clark, far and away the wittiest man to have come out of New Zealand (as opposed to Billy T. James, who was the funniest). It stars Billy Connolly, who can be the funniest man to have come out of Scotland (apart from several of their goalkeepers). And there's a supporting cast of excellent Australian actors headed by Judy Davis and Wendy Hughes (no Aussie jokes, they've suffered enough at Kiwi hands in the past few weeks).

Connolly plays Steve Myers, a divorced lawyer who drops out to become a fisherman. When lightning destroys his boat and home he tries to collect on his insurance. Headed by SeaChange's John Howard, the company uses its get-out-of jail clause: this was an act of God so it doesn't have to pay. So Myers sues God, because if God doesn't exist, then ... you've got it.

Steve faces derision from his brother (Colin Friels), ex-wife Jules (Hughes) and her new partner, Les (Blair Venn), who guaranteed the loan for the boat. The churches call up a top lawyer, Gerry Ryan (Bille Brown). Steve's only ally is in the media, journalist Anna Redmond (Davis).

Connolly provides plenty of good humour but Clark's script struggles to cope, probably because there are so many targets — the insurance companies, religion, the media, relationships. So, although it comes up a little short of other recent transtasman hits such as The Dish and The Bank, we'll give it three stars for entertainment value.

Rental video, DVD: Today

• DVD features: movie (102min); behind-the-scenes feature; feature from director; interviews with Connolly and Davis.