Many people first discovered Jason Reitman in 2005 with his feature film debut Thank You For Smoking. And even more people discovered Jason with 2007’s little film that did, Juno, which was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and won Best Screenplay. But I first discovered Reitman in 2000, with a little short film called In God We Trust. It became one of my favorite short films of all time, please check it out below.
The Award winning short film follows Robert, who is killed by an on-coming SUV while standing in the middle of the street contemplating the motto on a quarter. In the waiting room of the afterlife, the desk clerk tells him that his combined life score is negative, and he is going to hell. When Robert somehow escapes back to earth, Gil and his colleagues must bring him back to the afterlife. Jason Reitman’s short film is about how the little things in life add up. Starring Richard Speight Jr. and Jeff Witzke. If you keep your eye out, you might even see a young Jason Reitman in a very small cameo as well. For years this short was on Atom Films, then one day it disappeared completely from the internet. No because of Juno’s success it has returned.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Google’s only playing the first 5 minutes for me, but I really like it so far. Jason Reitman is a very talented director. Too bad he made Juno.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Too bad he made Juno????
Are you kidding me?
Anyways, Peter I also love In God We Trust! There’s another short film I happened to stumble upon that’s one of Jason Reitman’s short films called “Consent”.
He’s freaking amazing. I’m excited to see what film he does next.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
That was a fantastic short film.
Wish I was able to pull that off…
February 25th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I’m gonna start giving my change to beggars from now on, just in case.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
OMFG I remember this from, like, 2003/2004! I watched it a lot and really liked it. Thanks for the memories!
February 25th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I actually found this quite entertaining.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I believe the DP went on to do Superbad too. Name sounded familiar.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I have actually never seen this so thanks!
The whole thing reminds me of Bryan Fuller, the creator of Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls and recently Pushing Daisies… both the interpretation of death and the slo-mo shot of the quarter.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Saw this two years ago, liked it - had no idea it was a Jason Reitman effort!
February 26th, 2008 at 2:54 am
I love that they have a special place for Mr. Mamet…
February 26th, 2008 at 5:52 am
I thought this was really good. Thanks for sharing it Peter. One thing that stuck out for me was just watching the credits and realizing how even a tiny little short like that requires a huge crew and tons and tons of work.
I think this really reinforces what I liked so much about Thank You For Smoking and what I didn’t like about Juno.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Wow, what a great short! They tied it all together so perfectly at the end. Very well done!
I hadn’t seen it before so thanks for sharing. Those of you who haven’t seen it yet should also check out Retiman’s other short - Consent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wq5udytRN0
February 26th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
the short format is a lot harder than most might think, that film was damn near perfect. i see why rietman is where he is.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
How great was that?!! Really imaginative, and well executed. I like the concept of the every day guy going to hell for small transgretions and being able to turn his destiny around. Especially love the dance scene! Reitman’s got the goods. I’ll expect to be seeing a lot more of his work in the future. Great entertainment.
June 13th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I remember I had seen this many many years ago. And i even had this program from atom films to watch new weekly videos that came on. I saw this one and saved it right away. I was sad when i found out it had been deleted from my list. I never had been able to find it again until now.
thanks alot
Loved it and loving it.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:34 am
This was a fantastic video. I first saw it on Atom Films and when it was deleted I was sad to see it gone. I’m just happy someone else saw fit to restore it here on the web again. Thanks. Any chance I can download this for my own amusement and to share with my family? Thanks again.