Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic (2005)

Y'know I totally have a huge crush on Sarah Silverman. I think she's funny in small doses, and that her interviews with Conan are great. However, this movie really makes me wonder if I would care about her if she wasn't hot. While I was watching this movie I think there were maybe 7 actual jokes followed by a lot of hemming and hawing and just general bad stage presence. When she eventually got around to a joke it was pretty funny, and the audience would laugh, but then she'd pause, say "um, okay", and stall for a few minutes. And this was after every joke. This movie should have been a half hour stand up special and all the unfunny skits could have been dropped and with some good editing, it might, MIGHT, have been tight enough to mask her uncomfortableness on stage. But really, I doubt it. Of course knowing that the "boyfriend" she kept mentioning was Jimmy Kimmel just made me want to vomit in my mouth.

Basically a stand-up session enriched by skits. Silverman is exceedingly funny, capitalizing on her beauty, the sweet blankness of some of her expressions, especially mild puzzlement as the audience reacts to some of her over-the-top lines. She has a filthy mouth and a filthy mind and says the most outrageous things as if respect and decorum were annoying nuisances to be swept away with a comment or a laugh. Somehow her riffs on racism and other tricky subjects pass through offensiveness and come out the other side as brilliant satire of society's often hypocritical observance of "tolerant" values. Some of the skits are a little tedious—the framing device with her sister about putting on a show is strained and overlong, and the folksinger at the old-folks' home and the grandmother's funeral bit is overlong, sapping its potency like so many Saturday Night Live sketches did by staying past its welcome. A couple of the songs are really very funny—Silverman can sing, and her band (the Silvermen) is pretty good. It's a nice touch having them wear their hair in two ponytails, like hers in some parts of the movie. And the stand-up is often brilliant and always entertaining. Much laughter ensued, as well as a few OMGs.

Before I heard her I knew she must be doing something right because I heard people were offended by her, particularly by the title of the film "Jesus is Magic". At the first quick glance I thought it was a serious title because all the evangelical Christians I've heard and met believe that to be the case. Once I quickly realized it was a satirical joke I read some reviews. Natuarally, a lot of people were offended. Well it doesn't really take much to offend religious people, especially the orthodox, because anything that remotely approaches the truth and/or reason, contradicting and threatening the shaky foundation of their illogical and poorly constructed fictitious beliefs enrages them and causes the most hateful, violent reactions. The vast bulk of the wars and offenses committed on other peoples is based on or at least justified by religious beliefs, frequently just the persecution of those with contradicting religious beliefs. (Of course it's usually just based on the greed and power lust of the leaders but they play the religious card because they know that opium stirs the too frequently intentionally ignorant masses.) And since evangelical Christians are getting more and more power in the US and closer to fulfilling their dream of a Christian Taliban I became intrigued and gave the film a viewing. (Fortunately, the completely religious state does not exist yet so Ms. Silverman can make these films and others can watch them without fear of persecution and prosecution but give some time to some of the evangelical federal judges George W. has installed to start "reinterpreting" the laws to see if that doesn't start changing soon.)It's an entertaining film. Not brilliant but humorous and entertaining. She doesn't have the intellectual appeal of someone like George Carlin or even Bill Hicks nor the great depth of Lenny Bruce but she does have a nice act and fulfills the role of what adult comedy really should be, telling the truth in a fashion that people will hear it, that otherwise don't want to be bothered with anything "negative" (i.e: preferring the BS over reality). Of course, since she is telling the truth in a fashion, often with her character of a typically ignorant, arrogant woman who uses being cute as her veneer to gloss over her shortcomings, she is offending people who hate to admit their own shortcomings mirror what she is doing or saying. And, especially now in these tenuous times of a dangerous swing toward fundamentalism, we need those who poke fun at a humorless, intolerant group who insist on imposing their beliefs onto others. And before anyone starts flying off the handle claiming I'm anti-Christian, don't worry, I find all fundamental religious practices and other forms of orthodoxy equally destructive and dangerous, especially to the rare, disappearing freedoms left in the US and elsewhere. This may not be a fantastic film but it is a necessary one as it gives some hope to believers in individual intellectual pursuits that our disappearing freedoms aren't completely gone yet and still may have a chance to survive their recent assault. So we can continue things like the pursuit of legitimate scientific inquiry, which is always outlawed in religious states as facts contradict "faith": one only need look at the many, many years of meticulous research by some of the most brilliant minds being trashed in favor of "faith based" education to realize the horrifying dangers taking place right now. I hope more people get angry at this film and it starts to wake up the opposition who have been laying down to the will of someone with some crackpot belief in fear that they might offend someone's "faith". We need more people like Sarah Silverman who say "offensive" things about religious faith and other sacred subjects. Good job, Sarah, keep it up!

Whether one likes this movie largely depends on which camp one falls into--the "I get she's sending up all the stereotypes by using them" camp or the "she's just another stereotype comic" camp. Rest assured, she is indeed engaging in satire, but at the same time one can't help but feel that this nonetheless reinforces stereotypes as much as it deconstructs them.More to the point, she's only sporadically funny. When she hits on something, it's great, but otherwise it's a lot of her poking fun at the naive pretty girl image while innocently unleashing something wickedly taboo. It's a clever act, but it's also blatantly obvious and wears thin after not too long.Jesus is Magic is a decent film and to a large extent what one gets out of it depends on how one appraises the originality and impact of her style. Once one gets past the controversy, though, Sarah Silverman is largely hit or miss.