Review of God Is Great and I'm Not (2001) by Benjamin F — 05 Jan 2010

A disjointed mess. You'd hope for better than this in a French romantic comedy led by Audrey Tautou, and she usually does better than this. God is Great and I'm Not is technically watchable, certainly. There's clear talent behind the direction - which could have shone with a better script and far more rounded plot material - and Tautou and Baer had actual chemistry as leads. But the entire film hinges on its two central characters, and they don't carry the film.

While the actors have chemistry, the characters do not. It's hard to believe them as a couple, and anything resembling interest between the two of them beyond the physical, the way they're written. You spend the whole film wondering why they're together, and only the ending saves the film from dropping to two and a half stars from me - into shades of bad territory, by my scoring scale.

Michele is written as a relatively shallow character, lost and looking for answers in religion, which she rather obviously isn't finding throughout the film. Francois is simply neurotic and inconsistent. Both characters are caricatures. The supporting cast - which includes notable talent like Julie Depardieu - comes off as more interesting at times, and they don't get much screentime or development either, sadly. They all have their own subplots that go on in the background, but we don't see enough of those, the way the story jumps around in an incredibly disjointed manner. The concept between the movement of time over the course of the film and its presentation is solid and could have worked in a film with a better script and story, but here, they skip over all the important little things that would humanize these characters and help us to like them. We could see them grow, and bond. But we don't see either of these things. Instead, we get a little clumsy humor, awkward courtship interactions, a little tension, and lots of arguing which fails to endear the characters to the viewer or even make some sort of point.

God is Great and I'm Not is a definite disappointment, given Tautou's track record, even when it comes to light and fluffy romantic comedies. It isn't particularly romantic or particularly funny. There isn't much of a sense of a spiritual journey and you don't get a sense that any of these characters are real people - in the least, not real people you'd want to spend time around. Though technically watchable, I'd recommend skipping this one unless you're a diehard fan of Audrey Tautou trying to see all of her movies.