''Suing the Devil'' is a 2010

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

thriller film which was released in 2011. It was written and directed by

Tim Chey Timothy A. Chey is an American film producer, writer and director. Among his films are '' Fakin' da Funk'', ''Gone'', ''Impact: The Passion of the Christ'', '' Suing the Devil'', ''The Genius Club'', ''Live Fast, Die Young'', ''Final the Rapture' ...

and stars Malcolm McDowell and

Tom Sizemore Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. (; born November 29, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his supporting roles in films such as ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'' (1991), ''Passenger 5 ...

Plot

Luke O'Brien (Bart Bronson), a washed-up

salesman Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

turned night law student, decides to sue

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

for 8 trillion dollars. On the last day before Luke files a default judgment, Satan (Malcolm McDowell) appears to defend himself. On Satan's legal team are ten of the world's best trial lawyers. The entire world watches on Justice TV to see who will win the Trial of the Century. In the end, Luke wins the suit after a sensational proceeding. However, the film ends by showing that everything was a dream.

Cast

* Malcolm McDowell as Satan * Shannen Fields as Gwen O'Brien *

Corbin Bernsen Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series '' L.A. Law'',

as Barry Polk *

as Tony "The Hip" Anzaldo * Bart Bronson as Luke O'Brien *

Rebecca St. James Rebecca Jean Fink (; born 26 July 1977), known professionally as Rebecca Jean or Rebecca St. James, is an Australian Christian pop rock singer, songwriter and actress. She began performing in Australia in the late 1980s and released her first ...

as Jasmine Williams

Production

Filming took place in

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

, Los Angeles, Darlinghurst in New South Wales, and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Release

''Suing the Devil'' was released internationally in Brazil, UK, Canada,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and Nigeria. The film was distributed

on demand On-demand or on demand may refer to: Manufacturing * Build-on-demand * Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production * Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...

through a variety of services in the US and Canada.

Accolades

The film won the 5-Dove Award from the Dove Foundation, their highest rating for a "family approved" film.

Critical reception

Some critical reviews were negative. For example, Gabe Toro of Indiewire wrote: "The ideas behind the film are laughably primitive, and it's startling to see an actor of McDowell's caliber swept up in them. At the point where Satan begins taking credit for

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...

, it's clear that the ignorance that powers this film is borderline dangerous... In short, it's embarrassing on almost every level, poorly written, shot, scored and edited and bereft of a single idea, interesting or otherwise." Toro gave it a

letter grade Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

of F. In a review for '' The A.V. Club'' by Nathan Rabin wrote that " anks almost entirely to McDowell, ''Suing The Devil'' is one of the most entertaining evangelical Christian films I've written about for this column. Unlike most godly epics, it has a sense of humor about itself, but the laughs it generates are largely of the unintentional variety. It's sweet, dopey, and strangely touching in its fuzzy but strong-headed conviction that with a whole lot of faith and Jesus' love inside him, a no-hoper of a lawyer could triumph over the ultimate evil."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suing The Devil 2011 films American comedy thriller films Australian comedy thriller films Films about Christianity The Devil in film Lawsuits against the Devil American courtroom films 2010s comedy thriller films Films directed by Timothy A. Chey Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Sydney 2010s English-language films 2010s American films