Playing God (1997)

Playing God
I love David Duchovny, I have all 9 seasons of the X-Files on DVD and I needed this movie for my collection. The movie is very good, it has a lot of action. I saw it a long time ago, and I'm very happy to have found it through Amazon.

An Enjoyable "B"
While it isn't the most impressive movie, Playing God does have its moments. When I first saw it, I laughed out loud at a pairing of David Duchovney and Angelina Jolie, but after the third veiwing, the characters and the story began to grow on me. Duchovny and Jolie's chemistry actually works, and Timothy Hutton is crazy, colorful and quotable as a slightly sadistic crime lord. You'll get the gist of the story from previous reviews, but the important thing with this movie is to watch it tongue-in-cheek. It's entertaining, has a certain replay value, and has enough plot holes/unbelieveable happenings/goofy dialogue to warrent a double-play, and in my case, extensive nerd-ish study. What I've gleaned from the story and the character is basically: What goes around comes around. If you like enjoyable, well-meaning cheese, check this one out!

"A leads to B leads to C..."
Playing God was a bit of a disappointment, considering the makeup of the cast: David Duchovny, Angelina Jolie, and Peter Stormare among others, though by no means is it a bad movie.
A down-on-his-luck doctor finds himself in the company of a psychopath criminal patching up people that need to be shielded from the police...
In short, the acting is pretty good (though nothing great), the setting is average, while the dialogues and the plot are way below average.
The major setbacks are in relation to:
1) The weak plot and especially the weak dialogues, for which the writers are to blame.
2) With the exception of David Duchovny and Angelina Jolie, everyone else was sad, especially Timothy Hutton and Michael Massee who were pathetic. Just as bad were the actors playing the minor roles.
3) David Duchovny, Angelina Jolie, and Peter Stormare (who was great in Constantine) were given terrible lines. What a waste of an AMAZING cast!
It seems as though the actors/directors/producers got together for some drinks, and then decided, on the spot, to make a quick and easy impromptu film for some extra cash/spending money.
Though the potential for a good movie was definitely there it fails to take off, primarily (but not exclusively) due to the writers.
In a nutshell, it's an ok movie and that's about it; no masterpiece here... Wait till they show it on TV.