That's the mantra for the hilariously and hideously phony preacher played by Andy Kaufman, an evangelist far worse than Paul Sorvino from "Oh, God!". Looking like the Broadway version of Melvin P. Thorpe from "The Best Little WH in Texas", Kaufman has monk Marty Feldman kidnapped in order to help spread his word and bring in more moolah. Feldman has come from his Monastery to Los Angeles to try to find money to save his order, and ends up being used by a phony varination of Christianity. He realizes that even with a cheaper version of Kaufman as his friend (Peter Boyle), there are all sorts of phony creatures out there, and thanks to the help of a Hollywood prostitute (Louise Lasser), discovers how to deal with it.
I was surprised and delighted to find out that this flop comedy was much better than I expected it to be, having given bomb ratings to Feldman's next two films, "Yellowbeard" and 'Slapstick of Another Kind", and thought that this one would be as hideous. While there are a few moments that are eyebrow-raising and one or two that are offensive, I actually laughed quite a bit and found the film to be surprisingly sweet.
You get to see an exaggerated variation of what Hollywood Boulevard was like in the early 1980's, and a very funny Christmas extravaganza that will have you laughing hysterically at its tacky audaciousness. Richard Pryor has a cameo as Kaufman's big boss, barely recognizable, even in voice. This is one of the few parodies of Mel Brooks style comedies featuring actors from his ensemble and directed by one of them. In this case, it's Feldman who had some pathos to his performance so he's not just a zany pop-eyed fool. Perhaps he should have been the one doing these all along, not Gene Wilder. This is obviously not an attack on Christianity in general, but more about how it has been abused by phony showmen. Boyle scales every moment he's on screen, especially with his bus, disguised as a moving church.
I was surprised and delighted to find out that this flop comedy was much better than I expected it to be, having given bomb ratings to Feldman's next two films, "Yellowbeard" and 'Slapstick of Another Kind", and thought that this one would be as hideous. While there are a few moments that are eyebrow-raising and one or two that are offensive, I actually laughed quite a bit and found the film to be surprisingly sweet.
You get to see an exaggerated variation of what Hollywood Boulevard was like in the early 1980's, and a very funny Christmas extravaganza that will have you laughing hysterically at its tacky audaciousness. Richard Pryor has a cameo as Kaufman's big boss, barely recognizable, even in voice. This is one of the few parodies of Mel Brooks style comedies featuring actors from his ensemble and directed by one of them. In this case, it's Feldman who had some pathos to his performance so he's not just a zany pop-eyed fool. Perhaps he should have been the one doing these all along, not Gene Wilder. This is obviously not an attack on Christianity in general, but more about how it has been abused by phony showmen. Boyle scales every moment he's on screen, especially with his bus, disguised as a moving church.