…And God Spoke Movie Review
Soupy Sales as Moses, Eve Plumb as Mrs. Noah, Lou Ferrigno as Cain; yeah, those are the first actors you think about when casting a Biblical epic, right? …And God Spoke is a mockumentary on the making of the nonexistent movie of the same name. It focuses on the trials and tribulations of two independent producers (Clive Walton and Marvin Handleman, played by Michael Riley and Stephen Rappaport) as they attempt to film the best-selling book of all time. The team, best known for Alpha Deatha De Kappa, Dial S for Sex, and Nude Ninjas, now go after a target audience of four billion Bible readers. Clearly, Clive and Marvin are not among that group; they're unsure whether there were eight or ten disciples, and their vision of the loaves and fishes sequence (later scrapped for budgetary reasons) includes Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers standing in for the fishes. Later, when they get into deeper financial scrapes, Marvin agrees that Moses will include a product placement pitch, delivering 20th century soft drinks as well as Commandments to the stock footage multitude from the 19th century. And of course, despite scathing reviews, …And God Spoke is a huge $42 million hit, attracting long lines of devoted groupies who wear Biblical gear to repeat screenings. As good-natured satire, …And God Spoke falls somewhere in between The Making of Bikini School III and This Is Spinal Tap. The performances are energetic and clever; it's fun to see Sales, Jan Brady, and the incredible Hulk again, and all in the same movie (and it's blessedly short). If the entire film had been in the same vein as the auditions for casting agent Charlie Rose, or the power clash between Marvin and the A.D. in a staff meeting, …And God Spoke would have been a nonstop side-splitter. As is, it's still a painless way to spend 82 minutes.
1994 (R) 82m/C Michael Riley, Stephen Rappaport, Soupy Sales, Lou Ferrigno, Eve Plumb, Andy Dick, R.C. Bates, Fred Kaz, Daniel Tisman; D: Arthur Borman; W: Gregory S. Malins, Michael Curtis; C: Lee Daniel. VHS