SHE LOVES YOU MORE THAN JEWS LOVE MONEY

By: B -- 12/11/05

In my view, roughly 70% of Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic is hilariously offensive satire. 20% is satire, the other 10 is just offensive. The film consists of Silverman’s stand-up act, with a few random skits and songs thrown in to break up the pace. Silverman’s material skewers nearly every race, gender and religion by taking a first-person approach to act like a stereotypical ethnocentric/racist. She deadpans each joke with an innocent tone, oblivious to the idea that her subject material is inappropriate. A few of her best moments:

“I was raped by a doctor, which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl."

"Everybody blames the Jews for killing Christ. And then the Jews try to pass it off on the Romans. I'm one of the few people that believe it was the blacks."

“The president of an Asian-American watchdog group out here in Los Angeles, his name is Guy Aoki, and he was up in arms about it and he put my name in the papers calling me a racist, and it hurt. As a Jew-as a member of the Jewish community-I was really concerned that we were losing control of the media. Right? What kind of a world do we live in where a totally cute white girl can't say "Chink" on network television? It's like the fifties. It's scary. There are only two Asian people that I know that I have any problem with, at all. One is, uh, Guy Aoki. The other is my friend Steve, who actually went pee-pee in my Coke. He's all, 'Me Chinese, me play joke.' Uh, if you have to explain it, Steve, it's not funny.”

Silverman pokes fun at people by personifying them; to make a point about racism she acts racist. The effect is daring and unique, and besides a few unfunny moments (mostly the skits) Jesus is Magic is hilarious. Then again, I’m a sucker for (a) stand-up comedy, and (b) Sarah Silverman. So maybe I’m not the best person to ask.

POP RATING: 7

CRITICAL RATING: 7.5

B'S RATING: 7.5

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