Monday, October 12, 1998
‘Holy Man’ wholly unwatchable
FILM: Even Murphy can’t sell outdated story to audience
By Lonnie Harris
Daily Bruin Staff
‘Holy Man’ is a satire with some new, exciting revelations. Get
ready, because this is some controversial stuff.
First, it turns out that home-shopping TV channels are cheesy,
worthless outfits, selling useless junk to the gullible masses. As
well, ‘Holy Man’ introduces the concept that some ‘New Age’
self-improvement gurus are really just full of hot air. Oh, yes,
let’s not forget that American capitalism requires everyone who
works within the system to ‘sell out’ their beliefs in order to
make a profit.
If some of these concepts seem a little familiar, perhaps it’s
because ‘Holy Man’, which arrived in theaters Friday, did so about
10 years too late. It desperately wants to be a thoughtful send-up
of various aspects of our consumer culture, but instead it plays
like a skit from an old ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It was never really
funny, and still isn’t, but now it also seems dated, in addition to
being dull.
The Holy Man in question is the mysterious G. (Eddie Murphy), a
wanderer who comes to the aid of a couple of aggressive executives
(Jeff Goldblum and Kelly Preston). G. possesses quite a unique
personality, simultaneously child-like and deep, goofy and grave.
The executives, who work for a fledgling home-shopping network, see
his potential as a salesmen  and, of course, race to put him
on the air to sell their worthless crap.
It might be possible to come up with some creative or fresh jabs
at the world of home shopping, but the concept has been around so
long and has been mocked so frequently that another satire about
the subject seems totally unnecessary. Couple this with an
excessive two-hour length and director Stephen Herek’s tendency to
underplay situations, and the film becomes almost as unbearable to
watch as the infomercials it so gleefully jibes.
The one bright spot in this grand mess is Murphy, who gives a
surprising amount of life and personality to his thinly-drawn
saint. G., in fact, is often so vaguely portrayed that he becomes
more of a plot detail than an actual character. But whenever Murphy
is on-screen, he lightens the movie a little and even occasionally
manages to insert an actual joke into the proceedings.
The same cannot be said for the other actors trapped in this
debacle. Kelly Preston, usually so vibrant a screen presence, is
provided with nary a single funny moment, so she mindlessly walks
through the film, almost transparent. Unfortunately, Goldblum
refuses to go quietly into that good night and spends the entire
film in ‘neurotic’ mode  pacing, complaining and whining
incessantly at G.’s every bizarre antic.
Here’s a question: Since G. is obviously such a strange guy with
such an unpredictable nature, why is Goldblum’s character
constantly surprised each time G. acts out or strays from his
planned course of action? Wouldn’t it seem obvious to anyone that
G. is not going to follow the rules and take orders? The script
never takes this into consideration.
Even if it had been released when its topic still had some sort
of cultural relevancy, ‘Holy Man’ would still feel a little flat.
However, coming now, when more parodies of infomercials play on TV
than infomercials themselves, ‘Holy Man’ seems more than just
antiquated  it seems absolutely unwatchable.
TOUCHSTONE PICTURES
Eddie Murphy (with Kelly Preston and Jeff Goldblum) plays a
prophet for profit in the new movie ‘Holy Man.’
Touchstone Pictures
A market analyst (Kelly Preston) and a network executive (Jeff
Goldblum) become allies to save a home shopping network.
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