Thank Heaven

Thank Heaven
Jenny McCarthy, Matt Keeslar, Kadeem Hardison, Gene Bicknell
Directed by John Mallory Asher
Originally released 2001
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment 2008
87 minutes

There are many God related comedies out there: the excellent Oh God! with George Burns and John Denver, the pretty good Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty, and the fairly atrocious Dogma.

Thank Heaven is another God comedy DVD and though it is not great it is an enjoyable little movie that will entertain and make you feel good. Thank Heaven is also a decent romantic comedy.

Thank Heaven stars Jenny McCarthy (of many thankfully short lived sitcoms) and Matt Keeslar as TV news pretty faces who had a child out of wedlock and cannot stop bickering.

The DVD also features other nobodies in a pleasant little tale that entertains and has quite a few new twists to the obligatory god / miracles part of the movie. The ending is predictable but some parts are most original.

It all begins when TV reporter Jack (Keeslar) is out playing golf with his buddies and he knocks an old man out with a golf ball. Jack feels responsible, takes the old man to the hospital, and then becomes his caretaker.

The old man (Gene Bicknell) doesn’t remember who he is –though he thinks his name is Arnold Palmer and you know he is “the big guy”– but has a few modernized biblical powers up his sleeve such as the parting of the sea of cars.

The god comedy part starts when Arnie accidentally goes on the weather segment and makes a few predictions that of course are right on the money and rather inept angels (with a godforsaken British accent) come to earth to find god. The ongoing gag of people coming up to “Arnie” and saying “Haven’t I met you before?” is neat and funny.

There are other really original god in Southern California moments in this comedy that keep you interested and watching. The ongoing gag of people coming up to “Arnie” and saying “Haven’t I met you before?” is neat and funny.

Aside from the way too cutesy and biting remarks beyond her years Hollywood kid as Jack and Julia’s kid, the really, really, really bad actor (William G. Schilling) playing the station manager (who is a badly written character to start with), and a couple of terrible scenes such as when the angels meet the rent-a-cop twice no less, Thank Heaven is a very watchable feel good comedy DVD.

Thank Heaven will make you smile but not necessarily laugh out loud.

 

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