Al Franken: God Spoke (2006)
Pennebaker Hegedus Films, BBC

Description

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.

Tags

2000s, Elections, USA

Collected reviews and ratings

8.9 DVD Verdict | Mike Pinsky

As a campaign film, Al Franken: God Spoke is probably the best thing to happen to Franken, if you expect his future constituents to love him for being one of the people, a funny, real person who gets very riled up when the powerful lie and deceive.
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7.5 The Onion A.V. Club | Nathan Rabin

A fascinating combination of class clown and fact-happy debate-club president, Franken nonetheless makes for a compelling subject, but God Spoke veers uncomfortably into hagiography, especially as it winds down.
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7.0 Amazon user reviews

... this "fair and balanced" profile represents an entertaining introduction to a multi-talented 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.
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7.0 Variety | Joe Leydon

Smoothly paced, well-crafted pic should greatly please audiences attuned to Franken's prickly wit and iconoclastic commentary and might even engage some right-leaning nonfans who grudgingly respect his smartly satirical sass.
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7.0 New York Times | A. O. Scott

... even his fans may find themselves frustrated, since the film observes Mr. Franken closely without generating much insight into him. Like many other comedians, he seems to be performing constantly. And like many other comedians, he is evidently angry, though he is driven not by psychic torment but by moral fury at the Republican Party and the conservative news media.
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7.0 Salon.com | Andrew O'Hehir

For me, Franken is funniest at his least guarded and his most incorrect, and as he inches toward becoming a politician himself, we get less and less of that.
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7.0 Eye For Film

Al Franken: God Spoke is no great documentary and very few new stones are turned. The usual left wing agendas over minimum wages and health care are well documented, yet these are things that matter to ordinary Americans and are overlooked daily by an administration that puts war top of its agenda.
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7.0 PopMatters.com | Glenn McDonald

If there is one surprising element, it’s the depth—and the rather fiery core—of Franken’s political beliefs. Several scenes reveal him dropping the cool satirist mask and expressing his genuine outrage at our national state of affairs.
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6.0 San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

The anticipated story seems to have been a documentary about how Franken, through his broadcasts on Air America and his book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," helped elect John Kerry to the presidency. But when that didn't exactly work out, the filmmakers were apparently at a loss.
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6.0 filmcritic.com | Chris Cabin

The saving grace is that the film is also devilishly entertaining and, at moments, endearing and somewhat informative. The parts that stick out are near the end, where we are given a more clear look at Franken's home life and his utter dread of Bush's second win.
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6.0 Washington Post | Desson Thomson

... a sketchy but often entertaining record of satirist Al Franken's campaign to counteract what he perceives to be a right-wing conspiracy of lies and disinformation.
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