An Act of God is, in legal terms, a disingenuous couple of lines of smallprint that give insurance companies a loophole through which to drive a coach and four.

Lightning strikes come under that catch-all ethereal clause and when Steve Myers' boat catches a bolt it's no surprise when the insurance company refuses to pay up.

However, Myers (Connolly), drawing on his aborted career in law and sheer bloody-mindedness, decides he's going to sue.

With God predictably declining to take the stand, it's His representatives on earth who are in the dock - the church.

On Steve's side is disillusioned hackette Anna Redmond (Davis) but pitched against him is Machiavellian lawyer Gerry Ryan (Brown), an old pal of the Cardinal.

This stand or falls on the performance of Connolly, whose impressive roster of film work hit a high in Mrs Brown with Judi Dench.

In fact, the Scotsman dominates the movie with his all-conquering bonhomie tempered by an ability to convey self-righteous, spluttering rage like few others.

Davis, whose only career misjudgement has been dire SAS caper Who Dares Wins opposite Lewis Collins, hits the mark as Steve's love interest.

There's also some spiky dialogue - in one scene in a minimalist Japanese restaurant Steve describes how he warms to décor with a "fascist simplicity".

It's a light-hearted romp given heart by Connolly and belly laughs by assorted insurance bigwigs and pompous churchmen.

It even addresses some valid issues, specifically how the church deals with filthy lucre and how insurance companies often refuse to deal at all.

A likeable, well played anti-establishment yarn.

Tim Evans