Synopsis

A struggling executive at the Good Buy Shopping Network encounters G, a serene and seemingly enlightened drifter who wanders onto a live broadcast. When G's sincerity transforms ordinary sales pitches into unexpected spiritual experiences, the network turns him into its newest sensation. As ratings and profits rise, the executives must confront whether they are sharing a message of compassion or simply exploiting one.

Factoids & Trivia

• The project was in development as early as 1993, with John Candy originally attached to play G. Candy's death in 1994 contributed to the film's long delay before production resumed.

• The film satirizes the emotional manipulation and hard-sell tactics associated with television home shopping, contrasting them with G's rejection of materialism.

• Production companies included Touchstone Pictures, Caravan Pictures, Eddie Murphy Productions, and Roger Birnbaum Productions.

• Filming took place in Florida, which provided locations for the film's shopping-network setting and its encounters between G and the public.

• The production had an estimated budget of $60 million, a substantial amount for a comedy-drama built around a television-sales premise.

• Composer Alan Silvestri provided the score. The film also features a cameo appearance by James Brown, one of several recognizable television and music personalities who appear as themselves.

• Released in the United States on October 9, 1998, the film received largely negative reviews and became regarded as one of the weaker commercial performers of its period.

• Eddie Murphy later singled out the film when discussing the least successful movies in his career, giving it an unusual post-release legacy beyond its original reception.