Wholly Moses!

Wholly Moses! 1980 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Dudley Moore, Laraine Newman, James Coco, Paul Sand, Jack Gilford
Also starring (cameos!): Dom Deluise, John Houseman, Madeline Kahn, David L. Lander, Richard Pryor, John Ritter
Director: Gary Weis
Buy Wholly Moses! at Amazon, if you dare.

This obviously isn't remembered as one of Dudley Moore's better films.

Moore portrays Herschel, whose life and adventures seem to closely parallel that of Moses, except that Moses is the one getting all of the glory. Actually, Herschel just thinks that God is talking to him, not Moses, and takes it upon himself to do the Lord's work, failing miserably. In the opening shot, set in 1980, Moore also plays a tourist who stumbles upon a lost Dead Sea scroll with Laraine Newman.

To be honest, Wholly Moses seems to coast on just two ideas: Herschel's continuing misconception that God is talking to him, and cameo appearances from some of 1980's biggest stars. The cameos really add nothing to the movie, even if John Ritter portrayed an excellent Satan. The scene where Moore interacts with Pryor really falls flat, and the two actors aren't even in the same shot! In his review, Roger Ebert suggested that Pryor was encouraged to "do his schtick" for the cameras, and Moore's reactions were edited in afterwards. That could have happened, but I haven't seen or found any evidence confirming this.

I actually expected more to this one, and I was pretty stoked when I finally found it on DVD a while back. Unfortunately, it's a pretty big disappointment. Dudley Moore tried, but he really looked helpless at times. All I can say is, if you want Biblical comedy, seek out Monty Python's Life of Brian instead.

Not recommended.