This movie had the potential to be really good. Good acting, good storyline but fell off dramatically as you see it continually go no where. There's never really a reason given for the "interview". The back story is extremely limited. It was more of God intervening than an interview. Though I typically give religious movies the benefit of doubt, I just can't help but doubt who wrote this.

I thought there was potential here but all throughout I found it somewhat underwhelming. Paul Asher (Brenton Thwaites) questions his faith upon return home from a journalistic assignment in Afghanistan, at which time he recognizes that his marriage is falling apart. We're led to believe that the distance between him and his wife (Yael Grobglas) is due to his prolonged absence from home, compounded by the dedication and hours he devotes to his newspaper. That's true up to a point, but in a minor twist to the story, it's learned that his wife was unfaithful to him during his absence, and now faces her own crisis of conscience, believing she's not worthy to seek his forgiveness.

It wasn't really clear to me how Paul landed his gig interviewing God (David Strathairn),nor is it apparent how he became aware of each interview location on three successive days. They just sort of occurred at the proper time and place by...divine intervention? Much of the back and forth between Paul and God was of the standard variety, such as God knowing everything and human beings needing to find their own path to salvation. Sort of prosaic for the most part, though the topic of free will was broached when it came to why evil exists in the world and why bad things happen to good people. Therein lies most of the answer when it comes to the world's big problems.

As God, David Strathairn probably could have been more accessible had he indulged in a bit of humor. In that regard, my favorite film depiction of God would have been George Burns in the 1977 comedy "Oh, God". Very cordial and conversational, he was able to make his spiritual pitch in a manner that wasn't threatening and was even quite inspirational and uplifting. Mirroring Strathairn's intent as God, Burns came across much more friendly and informal, and who could object to God's declaration in that picture when he said - "I gave you a world and everything in it. It's all up to you".

I thought this film sounded fascinating in it's write up on Netflix and I wasn't wrong. The idea behind the film is terrific and this would even make a great stage play but the problem lies in the script. It tells this story, builds these characters and then doesn't have any place to go with them. Another reviewer said it perfectly when they said it asks a lot of questions and gives no answers to any of it. And instead in the end it "chickens" out and wraps everything up in a neat little bow which makes no sense for the story before it. The cast is very good. I can't think of a better person to represent God on screen than David Strathairn who has a certain royal quality to him. Brenton Thwaites is very good as the pushed to the edge reporter who agrees to meet with the man claiming to be God. There is very little explanation as to what brings them together (which is the point as we find out) and God offers him all these questions and redemption and salvation and then when you feel like you're just about to uncover the landmine of answers and have your mind blown ... nothing. He realizes life ain't so bad and everything falls into place. I don't know if this is a book or not but I see some incredible potential here that is just never ever fleshed out. Still it's a good faith based film that's easy to watch and entertaining and well acted. 7/10