The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996            TAG: 9611020047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E2   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Movie Review 
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 
                                            LENGTH:   53 lines

``DEAR GOD'' DOESN'T HAVE A PRAYER

``DEAR GOD'' is a dreadful comedy that had every right to be better.

It's not leading man Greg Kinnear's fault. After establishing a sassy, sardonic and quite funny persona on TV's ``Talk Soup,'' he made a surprisingly slick movie debut in the old William Holden role in ``Sabrina'' (a movie which too few saw). Here, he plays a mischievous con man who, in lieu of going to jail, is sentenced to work in the dead-letter office of the U.S. Postal Service.

He plans to serve his time by stealing lost mail, but in an unlikely change of heart, he instead answers letters addressed to God. It seems that the three most frequent addressees in his file are God, Santa Claus and Elvis Presley.

Kinnear, who is much more likable and appealing than the movie, answers letters from a nursing home that wants a pet and from a mom who wants her sick child to ride a horse.

The dead letter office is filled with enough characters to populate a TV sitcom that could run five years. None of them is adequately developed. We merely see a quickie parade of eccentric characters who pass through and barely say ``Hello.'' The possibilities for humor are there, but not the humor.

There is Laurie Metcalf (a fine stage actress before she sold out to TV) as a drop-out lawyer. There is Tim Conway as a former postman who was taken off his beat because he bit a dog. There is Hector Elizondo as a Russian-accented boss.

The power of letter-writing makes you think of ``Miracle on 34th Street,'' but any further resemblance to that lovable comedy is nonexistent. Garry Marshall, who directed, is a TV creator (``Happy Days,'' ``Laverne and Shirley'') who would rather tell jokes than stories. His go-for-broke attempt at broad - very broad - humor often falls flat.

For it to work, ``Dear God'' had to be lovable. It's not. It's not even funny. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Greg Kinnear, right, and Tim Conway are co-workers in the U.S.

Postal Service's dead-letter office in ``Dear God.''

Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

``Dear God''

Cast: Greg Kinnear, Laurie Metcalf, Tim Conway, Roscoe Lee

Browne, Jon Seda, Hector Elizondo

Director: Garry Marshall

MPAA rating: PG (mild language)

Mal's rating: one and 1/2 stars

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