JAMES M. SPEA
'Dear God' is about a cynical con artist, Tom Turner (Greg Kinnear), who has lived his entire life taking advantage of the unsuspecting. He doesn't even think twice of conning a nun out of her donation cash. Desperate to pay off a debt to a lone shark, Turner spares no risk stealing from the poor and gullible.
Turner makes his last mistake when he tries to sell bogus plane tickets to undercover police officers. Arrested, Turner finds himself in court standing before a judge who is neither gullible nor softhearted. The judge gives Turner two choices. He can either go to jail or hold an honest job for a year.
Turner grudgingly agrees to get a job and ends up working for the United States Postal Service in the Dead Letter Office, or DLO. His misfit co-workers are like the countless letters that end up there: lost. One is a recovering workaholic lawyer, another an ex-musician about to retire. The list goes on. Tim Conway stars as a crass old postman who was removed from his route to the DLO after biting the leg of a German sheppard.
The DLO works with mail that has nowhere else to go. Some addresses can't be read, others have no addresses at all. And some letters are addressed to undeliverable addresses like the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and God.
Turner decides to open one of the letters addressed to God. Still cynical, he dismisses the woman's pleading letter as sappy. Turner doesn't give the letter a second thought until he accidentally mails his first paycheck to this woman's address. While attempting to regain his unintended gift, Turner discovers how happy this mother and her son are, thanking God for answering their prayers and for sending them the needed money.
Taking Turner's lead, soon the entire DLO start opening and answering the letters addressed to God. Turner's unintended miracle letter started something he could not stop. The letters to God start pouring in like never before. Turner's heart begins to change. No longer is he looking for ways to con people, rather, he has discovered the miracle of service. The more he does for others, the greater he feels.
The 'Mail Miracles' began to get a little too much publicity so the little group in the DLO stop answering the letters -- for awhile -- but to their surprise miracles keep happening. The kindness was catching.
An innocent mail worker is blamed for the tampering of U.S. mail and jailed. Turner bravely steps forward publicly admitting that the whole thing was his idea.
This time in court, Turner doesn't stand alone. Instead, a whole city rallies behind him.
'Dear God' is a great feel good movie just in time for the upcoming holiday season. The movie is in theaters now.