An Interview with God

More Christian teaching tool than compelling drama, Perry Lang’s talky film presents a serious treatment of the premise that George Burns used to comic purposes in the Oh, God! movies. The story centers on Paul (Brenton Thwaites), a reporter just back from covering the war in Afghanistan who is also facing the collapse of his marriage as a result of an affair with a colleague. Paul arranges an interview with a man (David Strathairn) who claims to be God, anticipating a mildly humorous human interest piece. Instead, the man uses their conversations to prod Paul into reassessing his life through debates about faith, free will, and other theological issues. Paul eventually begins to suspect that the man is actually God, and comes to believe that this is a response to his prayers for guidance. There are a few other characters in the story—Paul’s wife and mistress, along with his editor—but this is basically a two-hander, with both Thwaites and Strathairn delivering committed performances that at least lend a patina of gravity to essentially banal questions such as "why do bad things happen to good people?" An Interview with God is still a case of preaching to the choir, but it is better than similar fare. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)