It's an idea almost too good to be true: Don Knotts as a Hugh Hefner-esque playboy. I mean...it's Don Knotts! Barney Fife! Ralph Furley! Don Knotts doesn't have sex! Right? I mean, he has two kids...but I guess we always assumed that they were literally delivered by a stork. And yet, director Nat Hiken managed to do the impossible in his amazing film The Love God? Knotts plays Abner Peacock, a foppish young man who overseas a bird-watcher's magazine entitled The Peacock. However, the money is quickly running out for Abner's beloved magazine. In a desperate bid to save it, he takes on a new partner named Osborn Tremain. However, Tremain has no interest in birds. Tremain actually manipulated Abner to give him control of his magazine so he could turn it into a sexy "gentleman's" magazine. Tremain had been convicted of sending obscene content through the mail system too many times. Transforming The Peacock into a nudie mag provides him with a loophole. Of course, Abner remains completely oblivious...at least until he is arrested. Suddenly Abner is in the middle of a First Amendment battle of mythic proportions. But all Abner wants to do is redeem his name. Too bad that his lawyers convince him to play the part of a sex god in order to help them in their case for the "good of the First Amendment." I could go on, but much of the fun of The Love God? is watching Abner's troubles multiply and evolve in shocking and absurd ways. The Love God? is a comedic and satirical tour de force. This is Don Knotts at the top of his game. Who knew Knotts could make such a great (and unwilling) swinger?
9/10
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