Review: Script grants ‘Divine Access’ to wit and deep thoughts

In the low-key, serio-comic indie “Divine Access,” an aimless middle-aged womanizer named Jack (Billy Burke) becomes an accidental guru after he wryly humiliates a crackpot evangelist (Gary Cole) on a religious-themed public access show. Sensing an opportunity, the show’s cynical host (Patrick Warburton) books Jack on a speaking tour.

Armed with the language of spiritual actualization taught to him by his holistic mother (Adrienne Barbeau) but used primarily to woo the opposite sex, Jack hits the road, bedding groupies and doling out “wisdom” that amounts to a hundred ways of saying a) be kind, and b) he doesn’t have the answers. But it’s enough to turn him into a reluctant lodge-circuit messiah, his newfound fame forcing him to confront his rudderless soul, which one beautiful follower (Sarah Shahi) thinks might have a higher calling.

Though the biblical signposts are hard to miss — including Jack platonically adopting a wayward prostitute (Dora Madison) la you-know-who — there’s breezy wit in the screenplay’s offhand chatter about faith, healing and the yearning to connect. It isn’t terribly exciting as a movie — director/co-writer Steven Chester Prince mistakes drab pacing as a stylistic match for the laconic charm of his lead actor — but the serious-minded humor has a probing sincerity that carries you along.

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‘Divine Access’

Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Not rated

Playing: Vintage Los Feliz