- Political satirist Al Franken follows up his best-selling book LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM with this feature film. AL FRANKEN: GOD SPOKE follows the inimitable figure over a two-year period in which he campaigns against George W. Bush's reelection and takes well-aimed swipes at a number of big political targets. Runtime: 84 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â DOCUMENTARIES
An intimate & hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the life of the former saturday night live comedian turned author radio host & political satirist. Studio: New Video Group Release Date: 04/24/2007 Run time: 84 minutesIn
God Spoke, Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus (
The War Room) shine a light on political satirist Al Franken. The "flaming sword of justice" explains his left-leaning career like this, "They [right-wing pundits] say something ridiculous, and then I subject them to scorn and ridicule." The ! filmmakers, longtime associates of cinéma verité pioneer DA Pennebaker, take a fly-on-the-wall approach towards Franken's activities around the time of the 2004 presidential election and afterwards as he explores a run for the US Senate in 2008. They look at the (unsuccessful) lawsuit Fox News filed against him for swiping their tagline, his involvement in the upstart Air America network, and his dust-ups with Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michael Medved, and Bill O'Reilly, who describes him as "a vile human being." Along the way, they follow the Minnesota-born comedian on book tours and speaking engagements, occasionally flashing back to his two-decade long stint on
Saturday Night Live.
God Spoke is an expansion of the Sundance Channel short
The First Amendment Project: Fox vs. Franken and covers some of the same ground as HBO's
America Undercover: Left of the Dial. In other words, there isn't a ton of new material here, but this "fair and balanc! ed" profile represents an entertaining introduction to a multi! -talente d individual. Without Franken, it's hard to imagine a place in the world for
The Daily Show and other media designed to expose "lies and the lying liars who tell them," as his 2003 bestseller would have it.
--Kathleen C. Fennessy
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