This odd little film bears all the hallmarks of an American independent production, yet it was produced by two international studios, Lumiere and MGM-UA. Its cast list and subject matter - Touch is based on an Elmore Leonard novel - would seem to promise an edge but, as usual, director Paul Mazursky Enemies, a Love Story delivers a blunt blade.
The main problem with filming Elmore Leonard novels is that there is always so much going on, and Touch is no different. This time the author - with screenplay by Mazursky himself - tackles religion but in a light, comic way. This entails a large cast list, ranging from Christopher Walken, Skeet Ulrich and Bridget Fonda to bit players such as Tom Arnold, Lolita Davidovich, Gina Gershon and Janeane Garofalo.
While Touch may be funny on the page, cinematically it necessitates so many set-ups over its 97 minutes that the joke is often dead by the time it's delivered.
Two characters dominate: Christopher Walken as Bill Hill, an opportunistic former minister (his order was called Unifaith) looking for a way to get out of the caravan business, and Skeet Ulrich (Scream ), who may just be his deliverance. Johnny Depp-lookalike Ulrich plays a former Franciscan monk named Juvenal (originally named Charlie Lawson) who could possibly be a genuine miracle worker.
Hill dispatches his former assistant and baton-twirler Lynn (Bridget Fonda) to the Alcoholics Anonymous clinic where Juvenal is working. Posing as a drunk, she encounters the strange August Murray (Tom Arnold), who wants to use Juvenal for his own purposes: Augie heads a right-wing Catholic sect called Outrage, dedicated to traditional worship (or 'breaking up guitar Masses').
Lynn quickly determines that Juvenal is the genuine article: not only can the ex-monk perform miracles, he experiences stigmata (Christlike wounds) on his hands, feet, and side. Juvenal is an innocent in media-mad America, and Lynn moves to protect him, falling in love with the miracle worker in the process.
