Holy Man ** (1998, Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Preston, Robert Loggia, Jon Cryer) – Classic Movie Review 5234

Jeff Goldblum steals Eddie Murphy’s limelight as Ricky, a TV home shopping channel boss, whose chance meeting with itinerant mystic G (Murphy) gives him an idea to reverse his sales slump and save his job in the two weeks he has remaining under a company ultimatum. Ricky turns G into an over-the-top television evangelist who makes home shopping a religious experience.

Director Stephen Herek’s fair 1998 satirical comedy is patchily amusing, with something reasonably intelligent to say about the consumer society, and Goldblum’s a classy, funny act. Robert Loggia is a welcome presence as always, playing the Good Buy Shopping Network’s owner John McBainbridge. The romance between Goldblum and media analyst Kelly Preston holds things back a bit, though.

Also in the cast are Jon Cryer, Eric McCormack, Sam Kitchin, Robert Small, Marc Macaulay, Kim Staunton, Kim Alexis and Veronica Webb.

It has a PG certificate but the TV version may edit some language.

Morgan Fairchild, Betty White, Florence Henderson, James Brown, Soupy Sales, Dan Marino, Willard Scott and Nino Cerutti all appear as themselves.

It flopped. Costing $60 million, it took only $12 million at the US box office.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5234

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