The Boston Phoenix
Review from issue: September 10 - 17, 1998

[Boston Film Festival]

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God Said, 'Ha!'

A Phoenix pick

Written and directed by former Saturday Night Live cast member Julia Sweeney, with Quentin Tarantino as executive producer, God Said, Ha! offers no sexually ambiguous Pat, no hit men in suits, only Julia Sweeney alone on stage telling the story of how her brother was diagnosed with cancer and how both he and her off-kilter parents moved into her brand new bachelorette bungalow in LA. Although her shtick is sometimes stagy, Sweeney paints her quirky family members with warmth and humor. Her father, who wears a walkman at all hours (even in bed) so he can be up to date with NPR news, tells her of an earthquake in Japan. "Oh my God," she gasps, "when did it happen?" He answers, "About 30 seconds ago." When Sweeney too is diagnosed with cancer and has to undergo a hysterectomy, she starts wondering about cancer of the fat. Would emergency liposuction be so bad? And at her doctor's suggestion that she find a sperm donor (as many as six) in case she wants to have children of her own some day, she does the natural thing: she gets out her address book. Screens at the Copley Place Friday, September 11 at 7:15 and 9:15 p.m. and Saturday, September 12 at 12:45, 2:45, and 4:45 p.m. Writer/director/star Julia Sweeney will appear before Friday's 7:15 showing.

-- Rachel O'Malley


Film Festival Feature Films

| With Friends like These | Digging to China | Monument Ave. | Rounders | Lolita | God Said, 'Ha!' | My Son the Fanatic | The Mighty | Shattered Image | Gods and Monsters | Xui Xui: The Sent-Down Girl | Without Limits | Clubland | The Inheritors | The Celebration | Urban Ghost Story | The Boys | Living Out Loud | Stuart Bliss | The General | The Kindness of Strangers | Dancing at Lughnasa | Central Station | The Human Race | Double You Street | Oberwasser -- By U-boat to America | The Witman Boys | The Cruise | Confession of a Sexist Pig | Melting Pot |


More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times



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