Al Franken: God Spoke

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Less a documentary than a love fest for Al Franken, this scattershot movie, shot over two years, follows the zigzag trail of political satirist Al Franken as he feuds with Bill O'Reilly, campaigns against George W. Bush, and helps establish Air America.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Captures comedian and pundit Al Franken evolving from satirist to activist.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The film ends with Franken contemplating a run for U.S. Senate, but it's clear that his political campaign began long ago.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Humorist and liberal radio talk-show host Al Franken is a funny guy, and most of the people he attacks - Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney - are not. But the joke was on him when George Bush won re-election in 2004.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A lot of preaching to the converted.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Neither a profile nor a critique, though, the film's only focus is its subject's mild self-regard.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Listening to O'Reilly, Anne Coulter and others vilify Franken -- and vice versa -- is part of the dialogue that makes America great.

LA Weekly Charles Taylor

Throughout God Spoke, Franken comes off as passionate and funny, with an impressive ability to muster facts and an absence of smugness.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Sketchy but often entertaining.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The film ends before Franken can actually take the step from commentator to participant, which adds to its overall unfinished and unfocused air.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Most of this doc is content to wander through Franken's recent show-biz resume, to no particular end.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

I love Franken and wish there were more funny liberals in the chattering class, but his crushing sarcasm wouldn't exactly elevate the national debate.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A documentary in search of a story.

Premiere Ethan Alter

It's great that the comedian felt the call of a higher office, but it's a call that apparently only he can hear.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

For me, Franken is funniest at his least guarded and his most incorrect, and as he inches toward becoming a politician himself, we get less and less of that.

Variety Joe Leydon

Despite these flashbacks, however, God Spoke never really delves into the reasons and/or motivations behind Franken's transformation from monologist and sketch-comedy performer to political pundit and liberal activist. Indeed, even during intimate moments, Franken rarely comes across as someone given to explaining himself.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

With the transformation of Al Franken from comedian to activist, Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus stumbled onto a good subject, but in the documentary Al Franken: God Spoke, they stumble around in it.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Even his fans may find themselves frustrated, since the film observes Mr. Franken closely without generating much insight into him.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Fans of Franken's wittier print and broadcast work might smile. But I haven't seen this much smug, awkward laughter and bathos since, well, "Man of the Year."

Village Voice Rob Nelson

Unfocused but brisk.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Neither as adroitly funny as Franken's comic routines, nor as notable as his conversion to the fine art of politics, this is a 90-minute "What If?" with no discernible answer.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

This film by Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus forces us to make some decisions about him. For myself, I find him generally gross, in person and in manner.