The Answer Man: The Truth about Prophets

Not every movie we watched over the past month or more has been worthy of their own post on my favorite movie list.
There were two more outstanding ones for brilliant performances and nice plots: "Phoebe in Wonderland," featuring a stunning Elle Fanning (Dakota Fanning's younger sis), and "The Soloist," none of them really bearing a unique message that I look for in movies, at least not any other than "The Man of La Mancha" did 50 years ago.

So, I was happy for the privilege to watch another "winner" last night: "The Answer Man."
While not altogether free from cliches & been-theres, the movie definitely has its own, new and unique message in spilling the beans about what a prophet actually is. Folks who are familiar with my considerably crazy ideas know that I believe God capable of communicating with us even via things like comedies. And in this case, He tells us how easy it is to be a prophet: You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to be a sinless saint, you don't even have to go to church. God is so desperate for folks who'll listen to what He's got to say these days, He'll communicate with anyone under the sole condition that they're interested.

And I'm speaking from experience.

God may have a lot of "fans" in the 21st century, and a whole bunch of acquaintances who come to visit Him in mass gatherings on Sundays, plus, of course, a lot of folks who are too scared stiff of Him to skip their daily prayers, but not a lot of friends who care to listen to what He's got to say.

So, occasionally, he'll even make do with a rotten sinner like me or you or Arlen Faber (Jeff Daniels), the hero of this story, for whom his questions to God (which he promptly found answered upon writing them down) spell both luck and misery at the same time, since the results turn into a best seller and make him famous as someone or something he knows best of all he's not.

Throw in a little romance and a cute kid, and you get a fabulous twist on "Moses goes to Hollywood." - Or rather, to Philadelphia, which made for a nice break from the endless Big Apple backdrops of late.