Steve Myers was a good lawyer who quit his practice to become a lousy fisherman. His fishing boat is struck by lighting and explodes to pieces. When he tries to claim insurance, the insurance company denies it on the grounds that they don't cover 'Acts of God'.Frustrated at not getting anywhere with the insurance companies, he files a suit against God, naming church officials as representatives of God. This gets the attention of the media and escalates the drama further. It gets to a point that the church representatives have to either compensate for his loss or deny the existence of God.It's a funny and creative premise, which was expanded and revamped in 2012's Hindi remake 'OMG- Oh My God'. Despite a lackluster finish, it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Scottish stand up comedian Billy Connolly (recently featured in The Last Samurai) plays divorced and disillusioned ex-lawyer Steve Myers, who now whiles away his time on a fishing boat in New South Wales, Australia. One afternoon his boat, which is now basically his life, is destroyed by a bolt of lightning, which also results in a chard of the hull being embedded in his foot. On crutches he approaches his insurance company who refuse to pay as the incident is deemed an 'Act of God'. Connolly's traditional Celtic brand of outrageous, yet amusing, expletives result in his being carried unceremoniously out of the building. Undeterred by this he decides to challenge the very meaning of the term 'Act of God', which by it's very nature determines that someone (in this case God) is responsible, and if someone (God) is responsible then they (or He) can therefore be sued… or at least their (or His) representatives can. The subsequent court case generates a media storm as Myers, a not unaccomplished and uncharismatic courtroom tactician, initially runs rings around his opponents. Thus begins the David and Goliath battle between the little man and the formidable powers of the Church and the massive legal and insurance firms in their employ. Myers also gathers 800 or so co-plaintiffs, all victims of the 'Act of God' clause, to support him in his case. It eventually gets to the point where it looks like the only way the church are going to win their case is to prove that God doesn't exist. It's a clever, simple premise and one you wish you'd thought of yourself. It's no coincidence that Connolly's character is a fisherman, or even a fisher of men, and that his beef is with the corrupt insurance companies representing an apparently corrupt church. If it was suddenly discovered that Christ was Scottish, then it would have been Connolly calming the storm out on the Sea of Galilee, and Connolly who threw the moneylenders out of His Father's house, and, hirsute and ranting as he is in this movie, impressive he would have been too. Billy Connolly as Christ – now that would even give Mel Gibson a run for his money… I bet he'd be great at parting the Red Sea… oh, no, that was Moses wasn't it. Never mind, he could play that role too (nobody seems to worry about accents in movies anyway) and in fact he almost pleads to the court on behalf of his co-plaintiffs 'Let my people go', or rather 'Give my people their money you bastards', but with a smile and a twinkle in the eye that only Connolly can get away with – well, him and Sean Connery. Why haven't they been teamed up in a movie? It seems like a match made in Heaven to me. There are many storms brewing toward the end of the film; Religious zealots surround the courthouse hurling abuse at the blasphemer Myers; Myers can't afford to lose the case; the lawyers can't afford to either, nor can the church, and there's also a mighty wind storm approaching the town bringing forest fires and floods (and no doubt frogs, plague and locusts) with it. Needless to say it's a happy ending, the lawyers and the church get their knuckles rapped, the image of God remains untarnished (of course), Myers gets the girl and the zealots go home sulking and dragging their large wooden cross with them in another Christ reference. It's a refreshing film, as most Australian movies are. There's great attention to character and background detail. Connolly (Water, Mrs. Brown, Muppet Treasure Island, Boondock Saints, Timeline), undoubtedly a talented actor and comedian, is obviously cast for distribution purposes (Myers isn't a particularly Scottish name after all) and seems a little out of place in the Australian backdrop, but his rants are very funny. Veteran and versatile Australian actress Judy Davis (Deconstructing Harry, Celebrity, Absolute Power, The Reagans), as Myers' journalistic co-conspirator and love interest, is subject to some slapstick humour as a drunken and literally legless Myers wrecks a restaurant, and the excellent supporting cast are all the more convincing for their unfamiliarity.

As a social comment, it didn't tell us much we didn't already know. Insurance companies are run by immoral sharks and will try every trick in the book to get out of paying a claim, lawyers are essentially venal and the law has little to do with justice and a lot to do with the depth of the protagonists' pockets, and established religions are run by pompous pontificators and whited sepulchres, so the whole shebang hasn't moved on much since the days of the Scribes and Pharisees. But it told us it in a sharply witty and deftly handled way. These are all amongst Billy's favourite social comments, and although he didn't pull too many punches, he showed the real power of cleverly directed humour in exposing the hypocrisies of the establishment.Some may claim Billy has himself become an establishment figure, and other reviewers here have been harsh on his failure to "ram home" the assault on the churches. I think we all know Billy's opinion on the Catholic church in which he was raised, but he chooses in this film to leave a little bit there for those who like to still hold on to the mysteries. However, he does lampoon the religious fanatics who consider that they and they alone have a hot-line to God and they are the sole custodians of absolute truth.The only spoiler for me was the attempted Scottish accent from Colin Friels. And I couldn't quite figure out the plot twist that had two Scots sons following their father into the old established family law business but happening to be doing so in Sydney???It isn't destined to ever be regarded as a great movie classic, but as a low budget piece of irreverent (!) Aussie fun and a great vehicle for Billy's comic talents and the terrific acting of Judy Davis, it was pretty much right on the money. 8/10

I went to see this film with high expectations, Billy is usually so funny with his observational humour! The title had me wondering and the storyline is very clever and well thought out.Half way through I noticed (trying not to be biased because of its low-budget status) that the script did the storyline no justice. The only funny parts I expected came from the constant bad mouthing of Connelly and the odd line from the Priests etc. The worst was yet to come.(SPOILERS)Just when the film was getting juicy (when the church could only win by proving God DOESN'T exist) Connelly falls for (in matters of the heart and into bed with) the annoying reporter that oh-so-sweetly accepts the fact that he cost her her job!Basically the end turns out so that he drops his case because God's "fury" turned him to the new love of his life and they live happily ever after, yada yada yada, then he sponges off the media and makes a few Australian bucks!Good start to the story and very controversial in its own right, bad ending and even worse acting on the reporters part, i can't even remember her name!