'God Said, 'Ha!' By Jane Horwitz Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 2, 1999

Julia Sweeney explains how her life suddenly swerved toward absurdity in "God Said, 'Ha!'" (Miramax) Director: Julia Sweeney Cast: Julia Sweeney; Quentin Tarantino Running Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes Occasional profanity, mild sexual innuendo and descriptions of illness

Amicably divorced and settled into a small house in L.A. in the early 1990s, Sweeney was ready to start her post-"SNL" life as a writer and performer. Then her brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She moved him into her bungalow so she could look after him. Her parents arrived soon afterward, and Sweeney moved to the couch.

With great humor, unavoidable poignancy and the occasional, tooth-clenching edge, "God Said, 'Ha!'" recounts the experience of spending months in a small space with one's mostly cheerful but dying brother, and one's loving but exceedingly square parents. And if that isn't enough, Sweeney herself experienced a health crisis just as all the other stuff was coming to a head.

The film, which Sweeney also directed, is stylistically clumsy. The question "Is this a filmed stage performance or is it a movie?" isn't answered so much as fudged. "God Said, 'Ha!'" was filmed on a studio set built to look like a small theater, and though you sense the presence of a real audience, Sweeney talks directly into the camera – a curiously stilted choice.

Yet the flaw isn't fatal. The saving grace is Sweeney's instantly endearing self, telling an intimate, humane and resonant story, and telling it in that voice of hers, a diverting blend of whines and giggles.

Originally performed at an L.A. comedy club while the events on which Sweeney riffs were actually happening, the monologue grew with the encouragement of friends and audiences into a full-length stage performance, playing in San Francisco, Los Angeles and, soon after the film version was shot, New York.

She finds hilarity in the picture of a divorced adult in her thirties sneaking around with a new boyfriend in her own house, trying to avoid parental discovery, or surreptitiously dragging on cigarettes out back. Her recollections of grocery-list conflicts with a mother who calls every species of pasta "macaroni" will ring bells with many a boomer whose parents were shaped by the '50s and Chef Boy-ar-dee.

Sweeney's 1993 film "It's Pat," based on the "SNL" character, bombed so badly it disappeared before it even opened. But watching her droll, loving caricature of her recipe-challenged mom bodes well for all sorts of new character parts in other films.

And in an act of curiously touching generosity, Sweeney's honest sadness at the loss of her brother gives us a dash of the same catharsis she provided herself when she created "God Said, 'Ha!'"