I was mostly able to follow the plot, I didn't quite get how the main problem/threat was addressed. Aside from being competently made and having a few OK gags, I do have a bias for movies that criticize religion, although none of the serious points made in it is anything new to those familiar with the topic. It is nice to see this type of portrayal of religion in 2017 - it is entertaining and a good way to spend an hour or so for amazon prime members, however it won't change anybody's mind, and is a far cry from a must see.
9 Reviews
Mother of mercy is this our end?
bkoganbing13 December 2018
In this film which is a hit and miss satire on religion and end time days we learn
that the Universe is run like a business with a super being board of directors. Earth and the solar system is being considered for liquidation as it has not
turned out as expected. But superbeing God under whose charge this planet
has been says he wants an extension to turn things around.
Tommy Chong gets his chance to play the Supreme Creator/Deity in It's Gawd. Spelled this way Gawd decides the quickest way to reach all minds and hearts through television so he wants a variety show. As he's in the garb of a homeless derelict he doesn't get taken seriously by networks, even Fox. So he seeks out podcaster Booboo Stewart and soon the Supreme Being is in show business.
This is a most uneven satire of religion that kind of picks up in the second half of the film. Another performance of note is that of Luke Perry as a network executive who gets sold than disillusioned on the Gawd Hour.
Fans of Tommy Chong will like this.
Tommy Chong gets his chance to play the Supreme Creator/Deity in It's Gawd. Spelled this way Gawd decides the quickest way to reach all minds and hearts through television so he wants a variety show. As he's in the garb of a homeless derelict he doesn't get taken seriously by networks, even Fox. So he seeks out podcaster Booboo Stewart and soon the Supreme Being is in show business.
This is a most uneven satire of religion that kind of picks up in the second half of the film. Another performance of note is that of Luke Perry as a network executive who gets sold than disillusioned on the Gawd Hour.
Fans of Tommy Chong will like this.
What the hell did I just watch?
lukenlimos17 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
There is no hell says Tommy Chong. This is one of those deals you get with amazon prime after scrolling through a thousand awful sounding movies, TV shows and interwebs thingies and realize you've been searching titles on amazon for an hour and can't find anything interesting to watch that doesn't cost an extra five bucks. Hey amazon, what's up with charging me $200 a year and giving me such a horrible search engine for stuff? Wait, there's a picture of Tommy Chong looking typically stoned. OK, so he's gawd. Let's give this a shot. Dear gawd, its a mess. Looks like a stoner threw this together in his spare time while driving around LA looking for another dispensary. I hate to see what the crowdfunding budget was. Probably in the million or two range.
Yep, I was right. 2.5 million I found on this article written by the producer named Bobbitt. Wasn't the dude who had his manhood cut off by his angry mail order bride named Bobbitt? Seems he learned how to deal with SAG doing this particular masterpiece. SAG forced them to make the writer's fee or something a hundred grand or 2.5% of the budget. I understood there would be no math but...
Gerald Brunskill, the writer, director and chief bottle washer of this thing was a drummer for some local LA band apparently and shouldn't have quit his day job. It looks like they made it on their days off in some typically LA looking locations. I lived there for 14 years chauffeuring the rich and infamous and yes, it mostly looks like this movie. Lots of dilapidated storefronts, closed theaters, alleys brimming with garbage and the occasional slick steel and glass building full of trendy, lying scumbags. Its Hollywood after all. Dealt with a lot of people like Luke Perry's character.
I said there were spoilers but really, there's not much here to spoil. The dialogue sounds like they wrote it a few minutes before shooting and just tossed out something to make it seem like a storyline. Chong sort of rolls with the punches and looks extremely stoned. The rest of the cast just seem perplexed by their characters and the script. It sort of just runs together like a bunch of cobbled one liners going in a sort of same direction. Not much gets hashed out except maybe smoking the hash oil. Weak attempts at mocking organized religions except maybe judaism with one odd rabbi walks into a bar joke... lots of people walking into a bar jokes hold this thing together like a band-aid, and an even weaker moral of the story storyline about being nice to one another or the world's gonna end. That and Tommy Chong going to jail for peeing in public and other LA transgressions make up this epic saga of a morality play acting like a film school student's thesis movie and ending up like they couldn't decide what to throw on the editing room floor. Somebody shoulda reminded everybody about continuity and pacing. What they should have done was watched repoman before getting high and rolling the cameras. Now that is a great "indie" film. Somewhere in there is a dramatic turn about a baby dying at childbirth and the parents being Hollywood hot shots that gets lost in the sauce. I just watched it and all I remember now is Chong with that illegal smile on his face and a million wardrobe changes from salvation army shop. Wait, its medical cannabis now in California so apologies to John Prine. Its legal. There I was in LA 14 years and never got my card let alone even smoke weed legally after a lifetime of doing it illegally and facing possible prison time... just like Tommy Chong although he got railroaded for shipping glassware bongs into Pennsylvania, not for smoking the ganja. Wacky world. Maybe the galactic council in this movie should have let the earth be wiped out after all. If they'd been shown this flick it would have swayed the jury.
Yep, I was right. 2.5 million I found on this article written by the producer named Bobbitt. Wasn't the dude who had his manhood cut off by his angry mail order bride named Bobbitt? Seems he learned how to deal with SAG doing this particular masterpiece. SAG forced them to make the writer's fee or something a hundred grand or 2.5% of the budget. I understood there would be no math but...
Gerald Brunskill, the writer, director and chief bottle washer of this thing was a drummer for some local LA band apparently and shouldn't have quit his day job. It looks like they made it on their days off in some typically LA looking locations. I lived there for 14 years chauffeuring the rich and infamous and yes, it mostly looks like this movie. Lots of dilapidated storefronts, closed theaters, alleys brimming with garbage and the occasional slick steel and glass building full of trendy, lying scumbags. Its Hollywood after all. Dealt with a lot of people like Luke Perry's character.
I said there were spoilers but really, there's not much here to spoil. The dialogue sounds like they wrote it a few minutes before shooting and just tossed out something to make it seem like a storyline. Chong sort of rolls with the punches and looks extremely stoned. The rest of the cast just seem perplexed by their characters and the script. It sort of just runs together like a bunch of cobbled one liners going in a sort of same direction. Not much gets hashed out except maybe smoking the hash oil. Weak attempts at mocking organized religions except maybe judaism with one odd rabbi walks into a bar joke... lots of people walking into a bar jokes hold this thing together like a band-aid, and an even weaker moral of the story storyline about being nice to one another or the world's gonna end. That and Tommy Chong going to jail for peeing in public and other LA transgressions make up this epic saga of a morality play acting like a film school student's thesis movie and ending up like they couldn't decide what to throw on the editing room floor. Somebody shoulda reminded everybody about continuity and pacing. What they should have done was watched repoman before getting high and rolling the cameras. Now that is a great "indie" film. Somewhere in there is a dramatic turn about a baby dying at childbirth and the parents being Hollywood hot shots that gets lost in the sauce. I just watched it and all I remember now is Chong with that illegal smile on his face and a million wardrobe changes from salvation army shop. Wait, its medical cannabis now in California so apologies to John Prine. Its legal. There I was in LA 14 years and never got my card let alone even smoke weed legally after a lifetime of doing it illegally and facing possible prison time... just like Tommy Chong although he got railroaded for shipping glassware bongs into Pennsylvania, not for smoking the ganja. Wacky world. Maybe the galactic council in this movie should have let the earth be wiped out after all. If they'd been shown this flick it would have swayed the jury.
textbook throwback to the C films of the early 70s
paradux18 August 2017
By the early 70s, after the baby boomers were being absorbed into the consumer marketplace, indie film-makers tried to make their mark by renting whatever they equipment they needed and knocking off a full feature in an obscure location using actors who were mainly local waitresses and butchers. And a script written on the back of a napkin.
A few gems occasionally emerged from this approach -- Night of the Living Dead comes to mind.
This is clearly a "C" film done on the cheap, but it will never, ever, be remembered as a gem.
Props to the member who titled his review "What did I Just Watch?" -- that nailed it.
At the 9:00 mark, the "Gawd" character is dressing himself from a vandalized clothing donation bin and somehow (?) has photos of what God should look like. One of those photos is George Burns. That is the only thing thing this movie gets right.
A few gems occasionally emerged from this approach -- Night of the Living Dead comes to mind.
This is clearly a "C" film done on the cheap, but it will never, ever, be remembered as a gem.
Props to the member who titled his review "What did I Just Watch?" -- that nailed it.
At the 9:00 mark, the "Gawd" character is dressing himself from a vandalized clothing donation bin and somehow (?) has photos of what God should look like. One of those photos is George Burns. That is the only thing thing this movie gets right.
I Friggin' Love This Movie!
hfunworld15 November 2017
I'm truly gobsmacked (yes, I said gobsmacked) how someone could give this movie less than a 10. In an era where all the major studios can make is reheated superhero and zombie movies, somebody comes along with the balls to make an ambitious, funny, and really well-made independent comedy, (about God no less) and people criticize it because it's low budget. Wtf? I read that Bruce Almighty cost 80 million dollars. 80 million! Was it 78 million dollars funnier? Hell no.
It's Gawd! swings for the fence. Does it always hit the ball out of the park? Of course not, but I tell you this- it does a hell of a lot more than one of Judd Apatow's crappy comedies and it does it with a lot less swearing. (When did say "f _ _ _ " every 3 seconds become funny?) Watch the new Jerry Seinfeld special on Netflix... hilarious and he doesn't swear once. I'm no prude or holy roller, I'm just saying that comedies now days just have the actors swear when the script sucks as a cheat. Swear all you want, just don't be lazy.
I consider myself an Agnostic, I believe in something, just not what was sold to me when I was a kid. Personally I think all of the big 3 religions got it wrong. I don't claim to have the right answer, but I do like books, movies etc that explore different ideas. What was so great about this movie is that the writer did it with comedy.
Tommy Chong was Amazing! Who knew he had any talent beyond smoking weed. He was warm, genuine, funny, and original. Frankly I love that idea that an old stoner is God (Gawd). It kind of makes sense if you look at the state of the world these days. There's also a funny father/son thing happening and the kid who plays J, (could that be for Jesus?) is a fantastic actor. I guess he was in the X-men movies but I don't remember him. I would've like to see more of Luke Perry and thought he was a bit underutilized. The chick who played the angel is really funny and hot AF. More of her too please!
It's Gawd! reminded me at times of Will Ferrell's "Elf". It's silly and wacky, but in a great way. It also reminded me of Idiocracy in how ambitious it is without having a huge budget, and also Dogma for its irreverence. If you like any of these or the above referenced flicks I highly recommend It's Gawd!
It's Gawd! swings for the fence. Does it always hit the ball out of the park? Of course not, but I tell you this- it does a hell of a lot more than one of Judd Apatow's crappy comedies and it does it with a lot less swearing. (When did say "f _ _ _ " every 3 seconds become funny?) Watch the new Jerry Seinfeld special on Netflix... hilarious and he doesn't swear once. I'm no prude or holy roller, I'm just saying that comedies now days just have the actors swear when the script sucks as a cheat. Swear all you want, just don't be lazy.
I consider myself an Agnostic, I believe in something, just not what was sold to me when I was a kid. Personally I think all of the big 3 religions got it wrong. I don't claim to have the right answer, but I do like books, movies etc that explore different ideas. What was so great about this movie is that the writer did it with comedy.
Tommy Chong was Amazing! Who knew he had any talent beyond smoking weed. He was warm, genuine, funny, and original. Frankly I love that idea that an old stoner is God (Gawd). It kind of makes sense if you look at the state of the world these days. There's also a funny father/son thing happening and the kid who plays J, (could that be for Jesus?) is a fantastic actor. I guess he was in the X-men movies but I don't remember him. I would've like to see more of Luke Perry and thought he was a bit underutilized. The chick who played the angel is really funny and hot AF. More of her too please!
It's Gawd! reminded me at times of Will Ferrell's "Elf". It's silly and wacky, but in a great way. It also reminded me of Idiocracy in how ambitious it is without having a huge budget, and also Dogma for its irreverence. If you like any of these or the above referenced flicks I highly recommend It's Gawd!
Absolutely brilliant.
gerald_hilton10 November 2017
This is the funniest and most touching film of 2017. I'm sure the church groups of many denominations will have a crap watching this movie. They should, as there is more reality here than in a prayer meeting. Not too many times do I get to see a film that makes it's point at the same time brings us in touch with our own humanity. The budget of the movie is irrelevant as many higher priced film are much less impressive and less entertaining.
It's Gawd! (2017) is one of those movies that should get and Academy Award just for being hilarious alone if not for some excellent characterizations by Tommy Chong, Rebecca Mader, Luke Perry,and the rest of the cast.
It's Gawd! (2017) is one of those movies that should get and Academy Award just for being hilarious alone if not for some excellent characterizations by Tommy Chong, Rebecca Mader, Luke Perry,and the rest of the cast.
Even better than I expected.
facebook-835-88996310 November 2019
_It's Gawd_ is a genuine and warm hearted tale of the current state of religious faith in the 21st century. The story and execution are fantastic and the film never drags. The humor is not reliant on mockery and takes the same high road as _Life of Brian_ by simply pointing out inconsistencies within Faith, (mostly focused on Christianity).
I was dubious as to whether Tommy Chong could pull off the titular character but he absolutely nails it. I am not a religious person. Purely fantasizing, I always imagined a Divine Creator would not be hung up on dogma but instead would ultimately be a rather practical and rational supreme being. That is precisely the character Chong delivers in Gawd.
I was a little chagrined Gawd's antagonist shared my namesake, though I'll cut them some slack that they spelled his name wrong. ;)
A thoroughly enjoyable movie. Lots of laughs and a very positive message.
I was dubious as to whether Tommy Chong could pull off the titular character but he absolutely nails it. I am not a religious person. Purely fantasizing, I always imagined a Divine Creator would not be hung up on dogma but instead would ultimately be a rather practical and rational supreme being. That is precisely the character Chong delivers in Gawd.
I was a little chagrined Gawd's antagonist shared my namesake, though I'll cut them some slack that they spelled his name wrong. ;)
A thoroughly enjoyable movie. Lots of laughs and a very positive message.
Humorous but Addresses Serious Problems
dncorp17 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Having lived all over the World, and seen too much Deadly "Religion(s) Versus Religion(s)" this movie really addressed these issues from many different levels that if you are not looking for those or very familiar with most of the details of the World's Religions you might believe that this is just pointless "Filler Material", with those subtle points made being very serious and humorous at the same time.
"There are no accidents" says Gawd....Angel Lucy agrees. Over the decades those things that happened to me, shaped who I am Today and possibly the Future, same as everybody else.
The description is wrong, as Tawd (pronounced "Todd") is demanding that the Sun be repurposed, and that everything on planet Earth is wiped out, especially Humans. Gawd disagrees, and comes to Earth to save Earth from Tawd.
At the very end, Gawd's tells a "joke" as Tawd walks into a bar, bartender says "Well if it isn't the Prince of Darkness". Tawd goes missing from the meeting, everybody wonders where he went, Tawd materializes as a human in a garbage pile.
"There are no accidents" says Gawd....Angel Lucy agrees. Over the decades those things that happened to me, shaped who I am Today and possibly the Future, same as everybody else.
The description is wrong, as Tawd (pronounced "Todd") is demanding that the Sun be repurposed, and that everything on planet Earth is wiped out, especially Humans. Gawd disagrees, and comes to Earth to save Earth from Tawd.
At the very end, Gawd's tells a "joke" as Tawd walks into a bar, bartender says "Well if it isn't the Prince of Darkness". Tawd goes missing from the meeting, everybody wonders where he went, Tawd materializes as a human in a garbage pile.
Hidden gem.
rdoubleoc23 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Some of the best movies are movies most people never see or hear about. Going by the number of reviews in ~2 years for this movie, I'd say this is one of those -- it's a hidden gem.
I couldn't really relate to any "God movies" before this, even Bruce Almighty, but this movie parallels what I believe exactly, down to the last word -- there is a God, but I just don't think any of the religions we have today are actually the truth. I think there is middle ground most people don't think about, as portrayed in this movie.
I couldn't really relate to any "God movies" before this, even Bruce Almighty, but this movie parallels what I believe exactly, down to the last word -- there is a God, but I just don't think any of the religions we have today are actually the truth. I think there is middle ground most people don't think about, as portrayed in this movie.
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