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Holy Man (1998)

Director: Stephen Herek

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From Time Out Film Guide

'G' (Murphy) is a pilgrim in sandals and kaftan with nowhere to go - until, that is, he's almost run over by Ricky Hayman (Goldblum), producer of TV's 'Good Buy Shopping Network,' and a man ripe for the chop unless he can reverse his channel's plummeting ratings. When G wanders on to the 'live' set and instructs viewers to stop buying, the phone lines go crazy, and stock begins flying off the shelf. Cue G's career in reverse-psychology marketing and a reprieve for Hayman, who begins to dream up new ways of exploiting naivety. This cynical yarn about the evils of consumerism has a roster of faults: the public's infatuation with the guru is complete nonsense; erratic editing ensures the plot shoots off all over the place; and some of the slapstick scenes are done to death. Nevertheless, Murphy's bemused manner works well against Goldblum's wisecracking asshole, and the kitsch on-air shopping sequences are often very funny.

Author: DA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


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