Raymond Goodfellow is a romantic dart-throwing loveless lounge-singer. Every day for the last year, Ray has been praying to God to earn the affection of one Kelly Moran, the band’s drummer who just-so-happens to have a thing for his best friend Fozzie.
As God of Love opens, we see Ray perform his routine prayer prior to taking the stage. After a knock-out performance, the bartender gives Ray a mysterious package with his name on it that randomly “appeared” during the show. Upon opening the box branded with the label “Olympus Foundation,” Ray learns of its divine contents: the Love Dart 3000 – cupids arrows for the modern age. Anyone stuck with the Love Dart 3000 will temporarily fall in love with the first person they see. If that person ends up being someone they already know and dislike, he or she will see that person in a “new, desirable light” for six hours. After the time is up, the stuck person may revert back to his or her previous personal opinion. It is up to the lover to “make his own emotional connection” for the effects to be long-lasting.
Of course, being a gift from God, Ray sees this as an answer to his prayers and plots out how he will effectively use his short window to make Kelly Moran fall in love with him. Considering how badly she desires Fozzie, Ray has quite a difficult task ahead.
God of Love genuinely captures the essence of longing for love, working for love and trying to make the one you love see and feel the same way you do. It is comical, sweet and absolutely full of heart. Running only 18-minutes, God of Love successfully achieves heights of brilliant filmmaking that most feature-length films never come close to obtaining.
With the Oscars coming up on February 27, I can tell you which live-action short will be the winner on my ballot – God of Love.
