Dear God

Tom Turner is a small time con-man making a living off passengers at train stations etc. When he is caught and sent to trial he is sentenced to jail time or to get a full time job and earn his own money. He gets a job in the dead letter office at the post office where undeliverable letters are sorted by category. When trying to steal valuables to help pay off his gambling debts he accidentally puts them in a envelope in reply to a "Dear God" letter. When the money helps some people to fix problems with their block of flats and improve security his colleagues think he did it on purpose and begin to answer some other "Dear God" letters. However how far can they go without being discovered as the media begin to pick up on the miracles.

This is a very gentle comedy that struggles with being overly sentimental in the second half. The story is quite unlikely but the film is gentle enough that the slight plot is not really a major problem. Nor is it very unlikely - you won't be surprised to learn that every learns important lessons about life at the end. The comedy is also very slight, it has some laugh out loud moments but outside of this it also has an overall funny feel to the film that is quite nice.

Greg Kinnear is not a leading man, but he does a reasonably good job here. Out of his colleagues Metcalf is good and John Seda (of Homicide:LOTS) gives a different performance! The cast is also fleshed out by some nice cameos from Larry Miller and Jack Klugman (better known as Quincy). Elizondo has the best small role as the Post Officer manager who slips quietly away mid-conversation unnoticed.

Overall a gentle comedy that eventually gets bogged down by being too sentimental. It really could have benefited from having a more cynical edge.