The choir for "Al Franken: God Spoke" will delight in watching the self-aggrandizing comedian and liberal activist ridicule such conservatives as Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Medved and Rush Limbaugh.
The rest won't bother at all, a point supported by the North American five-week gross of $76,000.
Shot during a period of about a year that included the 2004 Republican National Convention and the subsequent presidential election, the film follows Franken like an eager puppy dog, catching moments when he one-ups adversaries, calls himself "the flaming sword of justice" and justifies his approach: "I subject them to scorn and ridicule. That's my job."
Frequently invoking his favorite attack words, "liars" and "lying," Franken presents himself as a populist champion and a potential 2008 candidate for the U.S. Senate position once held by friend Paul Wellstone, who was killed in a plane accident.
The movie functions as a Franken commercial, stuffed with insults rather than discourse. We know no more about him at the end than we did going in save a tidbit about his late father, who he says was a Republican until the GOP ran Barry Goldwater for president in 1964.
- At Regent Square Theater
Details
'Al Franken: God Spoke' Unrated but R in nature because of language and crude humor;
