Awesome Movie

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Blistering performances.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"God of Love" is an English-language short film from 5 years ago. It runs for almost 20 minutes, is black-and-white and I applaud Luke Matheny for what he did here in terms of writing, directing and acting. I do not often completely agree with the Academy, but I believe they got it right when they handed him the Live Action Short Film Oscar. Hilarious acceptance speech by the way. Check it out. Matheny has great recognition value due to his physical appearance and that elevated the film as well. I am really glad to see his recent success with the television show "Maron". I have not seen it (yet), but it sounds a bit like "Louie" to me. I hope Matheny can step into full feature films at some point too. I would certainly watch it.Now, about "God of Love": First of all, do not be misguided by the pretentious-sounding title. This film is everything but pretentious. It's simple, funny (very tongue-in-cheek) and creative and the title reference comes from the very last quote of the main character and it's not really meant seriously. Also the choir at the end is really just for comedic purposes. The story is as simply as effective. A guy (Matheny) loves a girl. She, however, loves his best friend. And his best friend won't date her because it would be wrong to hurt his friend like that. Quite a mess. Then, Matheny's character one day finds a dart with which he can get people to fall in love with each other, sadly only for 6 hours. After that, the two have to have made a real connection so that the love stays, even if the effect from the dart wears off. He tries it on a friend and it works. The two stay together. Sadly, things do not go that well with himself and the girl of his dreams. So what should he do? There were a handful hilarious references and scenes in here, like the diabetes part or the scene where all the girls are following our hero. I very much enjoyed watching these 19 minutes. Give it a chance, you will not regret it. One last thing I forgot, there is also nice singing in here.

"God of Love" was a wonderful experience to sit through. I don't often give movies tens, but in cases like this where I can't imagine a change that I could make that would improve it I happily give it all the points it deserves. It's quick and clever dialog, unusual story and deft, casual acceptance of it from all the characters was excellent. Ray was a character presented with complications, but without getting dark, heavy-handed or untrue to his original writing, he transitioned and grew all within the context of a fun and endearing comedy. An impressive feat for which Matheny deserves as many awards as he picks up.

'GOD OF LOVE': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)This 18 minute black and white short film won the Academy Award last year (2010) for best Live Action Short. It was written and directed by Luke Matheny. Matheny stars in the film as well. He shot the film on the Red One camera (very effectively) with director of photography Bobby Webster. In the film Matheny plays an expert dart thrower and lounge singer named Raymond who's in love with a girl in his band named Kelly (Marian Brock). Kelly has strong romantic feelings for Ray's best friend Fozzie (Christopher Hirsh) though, who won't go near her due to 'friend code'. Ray prays before every show for God to show him a way to win over Kelly's affections. His prayers are answered one day (or so he thinks) when someone drops off a box of darts with magical 'love potion' powers. The trick is they only work for six hours so Ray must find a way to earn Kelly's 'true love' in that time. The movie is quirky and charming and magically upbeat. It doesn't play down it's true message though and skimp out for cheap and clichéd effect. In that way the movie is especially strong. The performances are all great (especially Matheny) and the dialogue sharp and witty. The black and white is a nice effect and the cinematography is beautiful as well. It's hard to rate a film so short, as with all short films (it's not even the running length of a half hour sitcom), but taking that into account I'd have to say it's one of the better live action shorts I've ever seen. Very nicely done!Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rzBIHq5e3E

A dopey jazz singer is in love with a female band member who doesn't return his affections. God, or something else, provides him with magic love darts that make whoever they prick interested in the first person he or she sees for six hours. Dopey singer tries to make his crush fall for him, but her affections always wear off. Finally, he gives up and sets her up with a guy she likes. Maybe love will find him one day? I sure hope not. The movie is needlessly shot in black and white and has very sexist overtones. We aren't given any reason for this guy to get a girlfriend other than his desire for one. A bland indie "comedy" is lurking in this concept.Not Recommended