''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'' (Χρ ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

which was released in 2011. It was written and directed by Tim Chey and stars

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in '' A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...

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), '' Passenge ...

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 ...

turned night

law student Legal education is the education of individuals in the principles, practices, and theory of law. It may be undertaken for several reasons, including to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for admission to legal practice in a particular ...

, decides to sue

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

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 A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, al ...

Cast

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,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Syd ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and Sydney.

Release

''Suing the Devil'' was released internationally in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, UK,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, Australia, and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

. 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 The Dove Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that issues film reviews, ratings and endorsements of movies that it considers suitable for family audiences, and that bases said reviews on Christian values. De ...

, their highest rating for a "family approved" film.

Critical reception

Some critical reviews were negative. For example, Gabe Toro of

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

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, 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 ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...

'' by

Nathan Rabin Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for '' The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013.

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 Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

' 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