Aidan Quinn ("Legends of the Fall") stars as Seth Warner, who recently has suffered one major setback after another: the tragic disappearance of his wife, the destruction of his house, and the loss of his job. And, for good measure, his dog is crippled by a bolt of lightning. Assuming that God himself has it in for him, Seth determines to get even by breaking all 10 of the Commandments.
Written & directed by Daniel Taplitz ("Breakin' All the Rules"), this dark comedy-drama is savvy enough to ask some pertinent theological questions, and has some good moments, but for this viewer, it didn't come off as well as I would have liked. Part of it is that I would have liked to see it get even darker, and go into more detail as the unhinged Seth broke those Commandments. Instead, it gets sappy & romantic as Seth falls in love with his neglected sister-in-law Rachel Luce (Courteney Cox, the "Scream" series), whom he initially just wanted to use re: the "thou shalt not covet thy neighbors' wife" Commandment.
The film has an effective offbeat quality, but Taplitz just doesn't follow through that interestingly on a grabber of a premise. It's too bad, because he does get solid performances out of his cast, with Anthony LaPaglia ('Without a Trace') rounding out the star trio as Rachels' slimy husband Harry, an investigative journalist. The character is amusingly scummy, and LaPaglia pretty much steals the show.
While such a film may initially bother some who are religious, it ultimately has enough going on that it could provoke some pertinent discussions afterwards.
Six out of 10.
