SYNOPSIS:

JAKE BOYLE, the world’s unluckiest businessman, wakes up one morning with two things on his schedule: presenting a pitch at 8:00 AM and asking MAGGIE, his good looking assistant, out on a date. He barely makes his train, losing his briefcase when the doors close on it. Once at the office, Maggie turns him down. His pitch goes even less smoothly. It results in his termination from the company. He seeks out his life coach, DR. PETER PAPA. Jake tells Peter that he has chosen to kill himself. He attempts to shoot himself during the appointment, but he keeps missing. Peter reveals that Jake is already dead.

Peter puts his hands on Jake’s face to show him the truth. Three days before this moment, Jake was actually known as Mr. Lucky, a celebrity businessman with an amazing life. Due to his elevated status, he pays no attention to his employees or the little people, even making a joke at a homeless man’s expense. During a presentation for a new watch, “Outrageous Fortune,” a giant prototype crushes Jake, sending him into a coma. Now he is in purgatory. Peter leads Jake to a train station. He tells him that purgatory is meant to create an appreciation for life. Since Jake tried to kill himself, he can no longer stay.

Jake thinks Peter wants to send him on the train to hell. He begs for a reprieve – to be sent back to Earth instead. Peter accepts this proposal. He brings him to a lawyer to hammer out the details. The lawyer, MOE, draws up the contract. Jake has one week on Earth to find “forgiveness.” If he manages to do so, Heaven becomes a possibility.

Jake regains consciousness in the hospital. BILL, a 60-year-old wannabe rapper, stands over him. Bill quickly gets the attention of his wife CRYSTAL (20), who also happens to be Jake’s daughter. Jake passes out momentarily. He wakes up again in an ambulance. LINDA and ELI, his wife and son, are in the ambulance with Bill and Crystal. He does not fully remember them.

When they return home, Jake’s luck continues to trend in a downward direction. REILLY, Jake’s lawyer, informs him that his manufacturing plant burned down while he was in the hospital. Jake had taken money out of insurance polices and trust funds to help pay for the Outrageous Fortune project. Everyone involved with Jake immediately sold stocks, rendering the family effectively broke. Reilly tells Jake that he has decided to quit and work for DARWIN SHAW, a gossip reporter for “Talk of the Town.” Reilly walks to Linda’s car. They kiss and discuss their affair, unaware that Jake is watching them.

Jake begins to remember why he is back on Earth when he finds Moe’s contract in his robe. Now homeless and broke, he takes a walk downtown. After stealing a hot dog and accidentally fondling a woman’s breast, Jake evades police by hopping on a bus to a men’s shelter. Shortly after arriving, he finds a manuscript for his autobiography, one that Darin Shaw wanted to purchase from Jake before the coma. Jake tries to explain his predicament to FATHER RAY and JESUS, the shelter’s bus driver. They barely humor him. The one-week contract he shows them is blank.

Jake borrows a cell phone from a drag queen at the shelter. He calls Reilly and demands a meeting with Shaw. Otherwise, he plans to expose Reilly’s affair to Shaw’s competitors. Reilly picks him up from the shelter the next morning and brings him to the meeting. Shaw no longer wants to buy the book. He cites a lack of buzz around Jake now that his fortune is gone. He proposes that Jake go on his new show, “Celebrity Lawsuits.” Reilly is the star, a judge for has-been employees. If Jake goes on the show and sues his family, Shaw will agree to buy the book.

Jake storms out with Jesus, who attended the meeting as his lawyer. Jake passes out and wakes up in the hospital. The doctor tells him that he has a tumor and may only live for three more days – probably less. Jake becomes infuriated at the breach of contract. He should have seven whole days. Jake turns down the doctor’s surgery recommendation and leaves the hospital.

The next day, Jesus uses his bus to drive Jake to Long Island. Jake reads his manuscript on the way. He flashes back six months: Jakes fights with every member of his family, driving all of them out of the house with his neglectful behavior.

Reilly receives a notice of foreclosure. When Linda sees it, he confesses that Shaw hired him on the condition that he would convince her to sell Jake’s memoirs. When Jake came out of the coma, the deal changed. Reilly then needed to persuade Jake, which did not happen. Shaw will no longer take Reilly’s calls.

Jake shows up at Reilly’s and asks Linda for five minutes of her time. She actually times him. He is unable to convince her to forgive him before the timer runs out. She does not believe that Jake is truly dying. After whiffing on his first attempt, Jake asks Jesus to drive him to Eli. They find him selling a piece of artwork at an auction in the West Village. Eli is even less willing to buy Jake’s story than Linda. Jake tries to win him over by driving the price up during the silent auction. He accidentally wins Eli’s painting for $200,000. Eli has him escorted out of the premises.

Jake experiences another fainting episode, but he pushes through it to visit Crystal. He meets with Bill at the door and manages to make amends with his racially confused son-in-law. Bill informs him that Crystal lost her job. Bill calls to the bathroom. Crystal does not reply. Water starts overflowing underneath the door. Bill kicks in the door and finds Crystal in the tub with slashed wrists. Bill frantically tells Jake to call the police, but Jake is busy passing out once again.

Jake wakes up in the hospital. Crystal passed away while he was unconscious. His family blames him for Crystal’s suicide. Jakes tries to leave the hospital under his own power. He runs into Shaw on the way out. Shaw prods him about Crystal’s death. Jake grabs him by the collar and accepts an appearance on “Celebrity Lawsuits.” He tells him about his impending death and the blank contract. Instead of suing his family, he intends to sue God.

Shaw informs Reilly that the show is back on. Reilly wants no part of it, but Shaw blackmails him. Jake stays in a hotel while he awaits trial. Peter appears in the hotel bathroom on the morning of the trial. Jake declines to go with him until he has his day in court. He begins complaining about the unfairness of life. His parents died in a train accident when he was two years old. His adopted parents drank too much and beat him.

Peter reveals that he was the train conductor the night that Jake’s parents died. Peter spent time in purgatory trying to forgive himself, but never could. Finally, he accepted the train accident as God’s will.

He believes that way of thinking is the only path to peace. Jake vehemently disagrees. He closes his eyes and opens them again. Peter is gone.

Jake attends the televised court hearing. Linda and Eli enter the courtroom and try to convince him to get brain surgery immediately. Jake refuses. Shaw makes sure to close the doors on Linda and Eli before they can leave. Jesus shows up and plays the part of God’s lawyer. He’s disappointed in Jake for taking this course of action.

As the trial proceeds, Shaw does everything in his power to make Jake look insane. Jake collapses. Paramedics barely resuscitate him. Jake calls God to the stand. A HOMELESS MAN walks to the stand. He has been asking Jake for “change” the entire week. Jake angrily tells him that he does not have any change. The Homeless Man reveals that he never asked Jake for change. He asked him to change. The Homeless Man proves he is God by telling Jake a story about Jake’s own childhood. Jake has never told anyone about it.

The trial shifts after this unbelievable twist. Jake questions God about free will, mistakes and the impossible contract. God lectures Jake about these topics. Then, he reveals the true meaning of the contract. Jake only needed forgiveness from two people – himself and God. When God leaves the stand, Jake suddenly becomes aware of his body, still prone on the floor where he passed out. God asks if he is ready to come with him.

Jake has achieved forgiveness, but he needs to do one more thing before taking the voyage “upstairs.” He becomes Crystal’s doctor in purgatory, just as Peter did for him.

SUING GOD