''Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic'' is a 2005

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written by and starring

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

, directed by Liam Lynch, and distributed by Roadside Attractions. The movie is a

concert film A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...

consisting of 72 minutes of clips taken from Silverman's previous stand-up show of the same name, interspersed with flashbacks and comedic sketches. Silverman addresses a number of topics, including

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, AIDS, the Holocaust, racism, race, sexism, political parties, people with disability, disabilities, homeless people, and dwarfism, dwarves. Silverman also performs several original songs in the film.

Release

The film was released November 11, 2005 in eight theatres. Receiving positive reviews, it made just under $125,000 during opening weekend. Its performance led to an expanded release in as many as 57 theatres, resulting in a box office take of more than $1.2 million. The film was released on DVD on June 6, 2006 in the United States, June 13 in Canada, and October 13, 2008 in the United Kingdom. A soundtrack CD was also released featuring most of the musical numbers, excerpts from Silverman's stand-up comedy, and several additional songs which did not appear in the film.

Critical reception

''Jesus Is Magic'' has been the subject of mixed reviews. A. O. Scott of ''The New York Times'' believed that the film's comedic value rests too heavily on the shock value of having such irreverent jokes delivered via the Jewish American Princess persona embodied by Silverman, writing "Most of the humor in 'Jesus Is Magic' depends on the scandal of hearing a nice, middle-class Jewish girl make jokes about rape, anal sex, the Holocaust and AIDS. She makes fun of religion. She riffs on 9/11. But Ms. Silverman is not smashing taboos so much as she is desperately searching for them." Others, like Leo Benedictus of The Guardian, credit the intelligence of Silverman and the skill of the performance. Using as an example of Silverman's off-color joke that “being raped by a doctor” could be “kind of bittersweet for a Jewish girl,” Benedictus concluded that “it's not the Jewish stereotype that really powers the laugh, or the perfect inappropriateness of [Silverman’s words], it's the flip of mood from: ‘Here's something you can't joke about’ to, ‘Oh yes you can.’ Dangerous – and liberating.” Benedictus, Leo. Comedy Gold: Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic. The Guardian. March 21, 2012) Rotten Tomatoes gives the show a rating of 64%.

References

External links

* 2005 films American comedy films 2005 comedy films Stand-up comedy concert films Roadside Attractions films Sarah Silverman Stand-up comedy on DVD 2000s English-language films Films directed by Liam Lynch 2000s American films {{2000s-comedy-film-stub