Holy Man (1998)
Director: Stephen Herek
Movie review
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
Cast & crew
Director: Stephen Herek
Producer: Roger Birnbaum, Stephen Herek
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Preston, Robert Loggia, Jon Cryer, Eric McCormack, Sam Kitchin full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 114 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now