A review by Brooks Rich
I am going to be honest here. I am a fan of Steve Martin as a comedian, writer, and performer but not a huge fan of his filmography. I think Martin is brilliant and his work on Saturday Night Live is hilarious and he is a shockingly good author. But I am not a huge fan of a majority of his films. The Jerk is fine but I don't see it as a comedy classic like many others do and I am pretty lukewarm on most of the rest of his comedic films. I much prefer his more dramatic films, like The Spanish Prisoner, Shopgirl, and the film I'll be talking about today, my favorite Steve Martin film, 1992's Leap of Faith.
Martin plays Jonas Nightengale, a "faith healer" who is the head of a traveling tent revival show. One of the trucks breaks down in the town of Rustwater, Kansas and Jonas and his crew set up to go to work on the town's population, despite suspicion from the local sheriff, played by Liam Neeson. Jonas soon finds that maybe this time, someone is watching.
I adore this film. Martin does a fantastic job of taking someone who should be pretty loathsome, faith healers are human scum, and giving him a hint of humanity. I do have to say I am not religious by any stretch of the imagination. But I get that faith is very important to some people. Snake oil preachers who con people out of their money and convince them to not see medical treatment and instead go to church are human trash. Religion has it's share of evil in it's history and "faith healers" are right up there. I had to say that.
Martin is at his best when he plays a sort of loathsome character, like in The Spanish Prisoner. He has a lot to play around with when it comes to Jonas. He shows both the lack of morality and hidden compassion of the character. Essentially the film is about a snake oil preacher having a crisis of faith and coming to terms with himself as a man of God and a human being. Fans of Steve Martin should see this immediately to discover a different side to him.
I am going to be honest here. I am a fan of Steve Martin as a comedian, writer, and performer but not a huge fan of his filmography. I think Martin is brilliant and his work on Saturday Night Live is hilarious and he is a shockingly good author. But I am not a huge fan of a majority of his films. The Jerk is fine but I don't see it as a comedy classic like many others do and I am pretty lukewarm on most of the rest of his comedic films. I much prefer his more dramatic films, like The Spanish Prisoner, Shopgirl, and the film I'll be talking about today, my favorite Steve Martin film, 1992's Leap of Faith.
Martin plays Jonas Nightengale, a "faith healer" who is the head of a traveling tent revival show. One of the trucks breaks down in the town of Rustwater, Kansas and Jonas and his crew set up to go to work on the town's population, despite suspicion from the local sheriff, played by Liam Neeson. Jonas soon finds that maybe this time, someone is watching.
I adore this film. Martin does a fantastic job of taking someone who should be pretty loathsome, faith healers are human scum, and giving him a hint of humanity. I do have to say I am not religious by any stretch of the imagination. But I get that faith is very important to some people. Snake oil preachers who con people out of their money and convince them to not see medical treatment and instead go to church are human trash. Religion has it's share of evil in it's history and "faith healers" are right up there. I had to say that.
Martin is at his best when he plays a sort of loathsome character, like in The Spanish Prisoner. He has a lot to play around with when it comes to Jonas. He shows both the lack of morality and hidden compassion of the character. Essentially the film is about a snake oil preacher having a crisis of faith and coming to terms with himself as a man of God and a human being. Fans of Steve Martin should see this immediately to discover a different side to him.
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