In what appears to either be a parody of Christian film-making, or just another incredibly bad attempt to demonize evolutionary biologists, atheists, and people who wear sunglasses at night (I’ve never trusted those kids either), Suing the Devil claims to be an “epic, spiritual battle” involving a “thrilling faith-based” legal scenario where a janitor attending law school in the evenings decides to sue Satan for eight trillion dollars.
Why eight trillion dollars? No idea. I would have went with 666 gazillion dollars!
This hero of the working-class and Christian faith is pitted against Satan and his team of hedonistic lawyers who hail from schools such as Princeton, Yale, Oxford and Harvard (okay, they may be on to something there). The film boasts to portray “the trial of the century” (shouldn’t that be the trial of all eternity?) by depicting, through a genre that, apparently, the heathen can understand, Christ’s victory over Satan. Such a movie is sure to convince the masses that films with direct or indirect religious overtones are better left to Terrence Malick, Kevin Smith, and Lars von Trier (who may or may not be a Nazi).
The film’s website claims it is showing at select theaters. Apparently, they are so select that I cannot seem to locate any of them. This forces me to face the conundrum of who is to blame for its rather limited viewing opportunities: God or Satan?
I guess I’m going to have to suck it up, befriend some folks at the local mega-church, view a screening there and ask them what they think about Jesus and Paul’s ‘advice’ about avoiding courtrooms. I’ll let you know how the discussion goes.
In the meantime, please, please, please, please, please, please watch this trailer. Words fall short.
My three favorite moments include: 1) The background crowd giving Satan the “thumbs down” from 0:25-0:52 (I employed this technique often in my own search for the great adversary), 2) around the 1:01-1:04 mark where the idea is given that really smart people are ontologically opposed to Christianity (and, conversely, that stupidity is surely a hallmark of being religious–thanks), and 3) the actresses’ lines at 2:30-2:33 (with the incredibly mawkish and terrible excuse for music playing in the background): “I want you to win it. You hear me, I want you to win it!”
It reminded me of Dallas Winston’s, “Let’s do it for Johnny man. We’ll do it for Johnny!”
Except, you know . . . not quite as awesome.
Giving it my best Matt Dillon as I'm surrounded by Emilio Estevez (out of costume) and Patrick Swayze.