A very, very funny original, which, together with The Sunshine Boys, revitalised the career of cigar-chomping veteran comedian George Burns. Burns plays the Almighty, visiting Earth to seek a messenger to convey to an indifferent world that He is still around, and choosing a supermarket assistant manager for the task (the perfectly cast country singer John Denver). Skilled comedy director Carl Reiner works wonders with this material, which in other hands could have turned out extremely tasteless. Teri Garr and Ralph Bellamy provide wonderful support, and the whole has a marvellous feel-good quality to it.

Halliwell's Film Guide

Overlong but generally amiable reversion to the supernatural farces of the forties: its success seems to show that people again need this kind of comfort.