Touch (1997)
Down-and-out former preacher Bill Hill witnesses stranger Juvenal save a woman from her abusive husband by defusing the latter's anger — and ending his wife's blindness. Determined to profit from Juvenal's mystical powers, Bill asks an old friend, Lynn Faulkner, to sneak into the Alcoholics Anonymous facility where Juvenal works as a counselor, but she finds herself falling for the healer.
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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Truly Dreadful Film
Too much of everything
Good concept, poorly executed.
Writer/Director Paul Schrader continued his eclectic career with this film based on an Elmore Leonard novel about an uncharismatic healer (with stigmata) whom others wish to exploit for their own purposes. Skeet Ulrich, plays the healer Juvenal with just the right amount of curiosity, emotional detachment, and innocence. The always watchable Christopher Walken plays the scheming Bill Hill, a disgraced evangelist of the worst kind more concerned with drumming up business than saving souls. His plan is to enlist his significant other Lynn, Bridget Fonda, to infiltrate a rehabilitation clinic (where Juvenal is holed up) in order to gain Juvenal's trust before she and Hill make their exploitation pitches. The trouble is she falls in love with Juvenal, creating more than just a few problems. Meanwhile, August Murray, wonderfully played by Tom Arnold, is a religious zealot who sees through Bill's and Lynn's schemes, and he goes all out to block their attempts to exploit Juvenal while trying to get Juvenal behind his own agenda against the Catholic Church. Arnold's character is essentially the religious zealot version of Michael Douglas' character William Foster in Falling Down.Schrader has concocted a complex comedy/drama about religion, belief, and love without being exploitative himself, which is no small feet considering the subject matter. There's a problem with the film in that it's not entirely successful with how it treats its subject. Some viewers will be put off by the comedic contrast between the Walken, Fonda, and Arnold-influenced scenes compared to Juvenal's healing scenes. It's difficult to tap an emotional response to Juvenal because viewers won't necessarily be sure of Schrader's intent. However, the performances are genuine enough, the characters are enjoyable, and the screenplay is above average with dialog that is as clever as it is humorous. Gina Gershon, Janeane Garofalo, and Lolita Davidovitch all offer great support. Viewers who are familiar with Schrader's religious background will no doubt garner some enjoyment from the film, while other viewers may have trouble with the subject matter all together. Director Paul Mazursky plays Artie. *** of 4 stars.
"Touch" sticks Ulrich at the center as a young man with stigmata and maybe something more...healing power, the second coming, whatever. Around him are sundry characters ranging from mildly peculiar to very peculiar who want to use his questionable power to suit their own agendas. This unfortunate flick appears to be telling a story but fizzles in the end. A very unsatisfying, forgettable watch and a waste of a good cast. In short, a flop.
`You are an odour in the nostrils of God,' jabbers religious zealot August Murray (Tom Arnold). He is damning sometime revivalist Bill Hill's (Christopher Walken) cynical marketing of Christ-like figure Juvenal (Skeet Ulrich essentially playing Edward Scissorhands minus the blades). Hill wearing a glitzy gold jacket and an enormous `Thank You Jesus' necklace sees a book deal and a slot on the awful Debra Lusanne Show (Gina Gershon superb at mimicking Ricki Lake with a snarl) for the innocent healer, who has stigmata on his rib cage.In lesser hands than Paul Schrader, Elmore Leonard's non-crime novel could have become an overwrought toil in the evils of America's salacious media. However, Touch is actually a wryly amusing and unhurried look at faith and exploitation. The histrionics and belly laughs are bestowed upon the cameos, who obviously capture the best lines: `Do they make condoms that protect the soul' (Arnold) and `Controversy is the oxygen I breathe' (Gershon). Ultimately, best savoured on video. --Ben Walsh
I did not enjoy this movie. I read the book a while ago, and, although I can't remember exactly how I felt about it, I must have liked it somewhat, or I would not have rented this film. I rented it mostly to see Christopher Walken and Janeane Garofalo, but even they couldn't save this. It's quite boring, and it seems like a lot of the actors can't convey the story realistically. I really wanted to like this movie, but it was impossible.