Playing God

Good evening

source: Playing God

source: Playing God

I am putting a generous 6 to help boost viewership. The lead actress is magnetic and made the movie. The rest was interesting and there were some big twists and turns. It's a forgettable movie but I've seen much worse.

After hearing some things about the story and, particularly, the ending.. and then watching a trailer and really understanding the premise they created, I was quite intrigued! How are they going to accomplish THAT!? Certainly, the focus of the movie was wrong from the beginning.. or my expectations of it were. After watching it, I don't feel like I found a diamond in the rough, but I don't think I wasted my time. This movie is a simple, yet "cute" story well executed. That it's to say it's not stupid or annoying. It is well constructed with very few wrinkles, and it keeps the tone and quality throughout, which isn't as easy as you'd expect. And more importantly, it is a story mostly driven by the cast and their portrayal of the written characters. The lead Hannah Kasulka is very charming and likeable, Michael McKean leaves a great impression, and Alan Tudyk probably sells you the most important part of it. And you may as well be "warned" that it has a very religious coating to it (in dialogue, music, etc). I didn't get what I wanted (not even close), but I can't honestly say that this is a bad product. Once your image of the photoplay aligns with what you are watching, it will be easier to accept it. More than a theater release, this does feel like a "straight to streaming" release.

Not a bad film and can imagine this scam happening a lot in some parts of the world .

Micah (Luke Benward) and Rachel (Hannah Kasulka) are twins. They have been scam artists all their lives, mentored by Frank (Michael McKean). They find themselves owing $200K to Vaugh (Marc Menchaca) who will hurt them if they don't get it soon. They need a big mark. Ben (Alan Tudyk) is "unbanked" and has been looking for "God" to ask him about his daughter Katie who died. Our threesome of scammers decide to give him "God" while searching for Ben's treasure. The film was not as fun as other scam films. "Brothers Bloom" was among my favorites. The ending was a downer on the comedy, almost as if they wrote themselves in a corner. Guide: No sex or nudity. Don't recall swearing.

While watching I took a quick look at the imdb rating, which showed 5/10. I was literally shocked. I had to create an account, just to rate it 10/10 . This is one of the very best films I've ever seen, and would also recommend for others to watch for being absolutely ammmazing in every posssible aspect. The actors and actresses was born to form the character, and did a wonderful job. Hats off!! Mine at least is. Everything was perfect the way it was from the beginning till the end. STORY: brilliant. Good job, and thank for it.

I would say solid camera work, decent direction, pleasant performances overall. Some confusing moments, some pacing issues, but it also had some good moments. If you have nothing else to watch and don't mind some religious undertones here and there, give it a try...

Watched this film because my wife reads Texas Monthly and they did a write-up comparing it to other movies filmed in Houston. Obviously the plot is very contrived and suspension of disbelief will be required beyond what I'd call normal for this genre, if it really falls into any one genre that is. It's clearly a Grifters type film shooting for a Wes Anderson vibe, which is on one level somewhat annoying given that Anderson is from and has shot several of his films in Texas, including Houston. I would have liked to see a more original vision from this first time director, but in terms of production value, cinematography (sigh, has there been a movie in the past 5 years without *extensive* drone footage?), soundtrack and acting it was well done. Always appreciate seeing Chuck ("Better Call Saul") and he doesn't disappoint despite the limitations imposed on him by the script. The two leads are fine enough in their roles, and Alan Tudyk (also a Texas product, hmm), an entertaining and charismatic screen presence in pretty much any TV/film, doesn't really bring much dimension to his character here - again, not really his fault as the script didn't allow for a very deep character study to unfurl despite its pretentions in that regard. But the brother sister dynamic didn't quite gel for me or seem realistic enough for the plot. The writer/director attempts to portray the city of Houston as a character and in some ways, re-envision it as a viable, flexible canvas for future projects much like NYC, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, etc. Have been employed in too many other films to count. But that also rings a little hollow once you see the basically empty light rail cars and platforms both at night and during the day. That's because Houston's light rail system is nothing at all like the subway in NYC which is a real-life nerve center and backbone that links every major neighborhood/borough and cuts across virtually all demographics and lifestyles. The (mostly drone) shots of the skyline from various angles were too many in number at the expense of any busy city street scenes and the presence of extras like you see in films based in NYC or LA was lacking by comparison. Of course, it was filmed during a pandemic, so that aspect of the production was probably quite a challenge and I didn't dwell to much on it but that was one of the major aspects of Texas Monthly's article plugging "Playing God" so I can't exactly ignore it. Good thing they didn't film in February of this past year when the whole state was crippled and definitely not "Open for Business" due to regulatory failure and incompetent government, but I digress... "Playing God" didn't seem to know what it wanted to be, but I suppose that isn't a fatal flaw. It was a little too non-committal, trying to hit too many different buttons throughout and not really nailing any one attempt, despite being tightly filmed for the most part and possessing a largely seamless (but still limiting and contrived) script. The overall package just came off a little too 'lightweight' to merit serious awards consideration (not that I usually agree with Academy decisions) but on a positive note, it was entertaining enough to keep me in my seat, at home. It's certainly worth a watch, and it's not like any other movies I've seen recently, so I give it 5-Stars with an added Star for Michael McKean and some very obscure Texas-themed references (look at the phone number on the card the duo hands to Ben for example) that struck a note with me personally. 6-Stars.