Imagine Network or A Face in the Crowd with the wit and insight replaced by countless references to bodily functions, and you get a pretty good idea of what Holy Man is like. Jeff Goldblum plays a struggling TV executive who recruits a wandering guru (Eddie Murphy) to host his ailing home shopping broadcasts. Murphy shaves his head and wears a goofy pajama-like outfit, but he just coasts by without generating many laughs. Some of the phony products are mildly amusing (the James Brown medical alert system has possibilities), but the film loses energy and inspiration quickly. For a movie like this to work, the filmmakers must spend less time gazing into toilets and aping tired Saturday Night Live skits. (PG) Rating: 2

Not even divine intervention can save Holy Man.
© 1998 Touchstone Pictures. Used by Permission.