Review of Holy Man (1998) by Nicholas M — 27 Jul 2018

So, my rating is a mixture of how the movie made me feel, because of the message it contained, and the actual execution of the movie itself. If we are talking about the message and character of G, I would give it a 5 star. The message and character of G was very beautiful and literally made shed some tears. We need more people like that in the world that make us realize that many of the things we do are out of insecurity. We need to accept ourselves. And, on top of that, we need to find happiness without needing to buy things we don't need to help fill that void we feel, that void created by our insecurity. Our loneliness and discontent. It contains a very good message, and Eddie Murphy, or the character he plays, is very good. I feel Eddie Murphey offers a very heart warming performance on his part.

It is possible the message of G in this movie fell upon some deaf ears by reading the other reviews. Sadly, not everybody is going to understand G and his message. And, honestly, I think some people are afraid to accept the message because it makes them feel uncomfortable. People often make fun of or dismiss subjects that point out their weakness, vanity, and fakeness. A defense mechanism I guess. Anyway, so many people have this fake front that they are cool, when in reality they are just insecure. This movie makes very clear those types of people. In a way, the person that shuns the message of G is very similar to the pharasees attitude towards Jesus. Instead of being true to themselves and others, they sink deeper into their vanity. They become defensive and seek to destroy those that bring to light their fakeness, out of fear and cowardess. Some people submit to the truth and become free, while others seek to destroy it so it does not shed light on their weakness. I think some of these reviews are a perfect example of people trying to destroy a message that makes them feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, like I said earlier, some people may have just not understood it.

Many reviewers gave the movie a low score because where G came from and where he was going was unclear, but they must have not understood that where G came from and where he was going was beside the point. The focus of the movie was on the now. The movie explaining where G came from and where he was going would have been a waste of time because, like I just mentioned, it is beside the point. Where G came from or where he is going has nothing to do with the message of the movie. I saw another review saying the motivations of G were unclear, but they must have not understood the message of the movie. To me it was very clear that the motivation of G was happiness and that true love is being there for people when they need you. He did everything Ricky wanted him to. Some people may ask, why? Because, everything we do ultimately leads to happiness. Ricky wanted to be happy. By the end of the movie, Ricky found truth in himself, and he found true happiness. G's motivation was to free people from the fakeness, and he did this with Ricky by making Ricky realize his fakeness. He let Ricky be fake with him, ultimately leading to Ricky realizing his own fakeness and feeling guilty. It was perfect. G saw Ricky's motivation, and through G's eyes Ricky saw himself, finally realizing his motivations were untrue.

Now, if I were to just consider the execution of the movie, I would give the movie a 3 star. There were some parts of the movie that were cringe-worthy. Not on G's part, but on the other people's part in the movie.

There was no hypocritical content in the movie itself, but it is hypocritical for a rich person to write a movie about not needing money and material possessions to be happy. Maybe the writer and actors realize this truth but are too weak to accept or live by it. But, to some, it may come across as an insult for a person to write a movie about material possessions not being the answer to happiness and then going and living a life of luxury and pursuit of material possessions. Since it is not really the movie's fault that the people who wrote and promoted the movie are being hypocrits, I will not let that affect my score.

Finally, I will say, this is not a super funny movie. If you are expecting a super funny movie, you might be disappointed. This was apparently intended to be more of a heart warming and uplifting movie with elements of romance. There are funny things that happen in the movie, but I do not feel it was intended to be a "comedy". I myself enjoyed the movie very much, but I will give it a 4 star to be fair about the fact that there were some cringe-worthy moments. Again, from a critical standpoint about the structure of the movie, I would give 3 stars, but the message and overall story is a 5 stars for me.

(I really don't understand why so many people gave it such low stars though.).