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So it’s up to you. You’re going to see a movie about a typical,
average man who is endowed with all of God’s powers. Who do
you want in this role? Well… is there any other choice? Why
not simply give it to the funniest man alive? This is where
the producers of Bruce Almighty succeeded. Jim Carrey
is the perfect man to let run loose with unlimited power because
of the potential he possesses. This is the man who could play
Hitler and still have us grinning from ear to ear.
Let him go all out in such a crazy and limitless role, where
one can simply write anything imaginable, where there’s no
out of bounds, no unlikely scenarios (we are talking about
God’s power after all; I’m pretty sure it’s limitless). Hand
it over to Jim Carrey to work his magic. So before I write
a word of critique, bravo to the souls who had the imagination
for this project, which is based on a rock-solid foundation.
Bruce Nolan is a pushing-40 news anchor who has been subjected
to years of human interest stories (if you can call them that).
His employment at the local station is looking promising when
the head anchor-man retires and leaves a vacant spot that
Bruce is drooling over. Not only would it get him the dignity
and prestige he deserves, it would also save him from ever
having to do another story on the biggest cookie in the world.
Things turn south, however, when Bruce’s rival and one-up
(Carrell) is awarded the position. Bruce snaps, says
some things he shouldn’t say, and gets himself fired (in hilarious
fashion). The day drags on with more problems, from getting
jumped by a gang to wrecking his car. It all culminates into
one sad crescendo where Bruce takes it out on God and accuses
him of not caring and not doing his job. The next day God
(Freeman) invites Bruce to give the position a whirl
for a week to see if he can do any better. He endows him with
every last one of his divine powers and sends him back to
his life in the real world to learn a lesson. Bruce only uses
his power for himself and ends up getting caught up in his
fabulous, new lifestyle. He alienates his girlfriend Grace
(Anniston) and, what's worse, many of the decisions
Bruce has made in answering prayers are coming back to haunt
the world. A decision has to be made about what’s best for
the world versus what Bruce wants.
For what it is, this movie works. Carrey has re-teamed with
his Ace Ventura director Tom Shadyac (Does this
mean there’s a possibility for Ace Ventura 3?) and
the two seem to pick up where they left off. The film is certainly
more family-friendly than Carrey’s earlier work. Bruce
is much more Liar Liar than it is Dumb And Dumber.
While I would prefer some more Dumb And Dumber material
from Carrey, if this is the most outrageous type of film he
does for the rest of his career, I’ll be all right. After
all, it’s Jim Carrey. If you ask me, the man transcends anything
that has come before him. I just find myself watching him
on-screen and being fascinated by his natural hilarity and
comedy charisma. It almost doesn’t seem fair that one man
could be given that much comedic talent for free. Is there
a catch? While I continue to be mesmerized by Carrey he, meanwhile,
has made a pretty good movie. Shadyac seems able to exploit
his hilarity well (but then again, what kid with a camcorder
couldn’t?). Clearly Carrey is the best thing that ever happened
to Shadyac.
Aside from Carrey’s brilliance, I thought that the supporting
cast was good. Anniston does a splendid job as Carrey’s supportive
girlfriend and definite better half. I think that, aside from
the obvious, she plays the type of girl most guys want, the
soothing voice when things get out of control and the loving
girl who is always going to be there. Of course Morgan Freeman
shines as a very calm and peaceful deity. Although I feel
a little uncomfortable with it, if God has to be personified
I’m glad it was as this character. And then there’s Steve
Carrell of “The Daily Show” and FedEx commercial fame who
excels as the typical, hated co-worker. He is also the focus
of the funniest scene in the movie when Carrey decides to
take over his speech live, on the air.
In a film where anything is possible there are bound to be
some funny scenes and Bruce is no exception. I found
the use of special effects to display Bruce’s “miracles” to
be right on target and very creative. Scenes like Bruce figuring
out how he is going to answer prayers take full advantage
of these creative absurdities and are very funny.
On top of typical Carrey sight-gag comedy there are also
other more low profile jokes that I enjoyed. The movie obviously
has a lot of biblical comedy and I enjoyed the references
from Carrey “parting” his tomato soup to his prayer email
service being called “Yahweh” instead of Yahoo!
One concern that I had going into this film was the fine
line of good taste when making a comedy with this religious
subject matter. While the hardcore zealot will find blasphemous
and offensive things in this movie, I think that most folks
in the Judeo-Christian tradition will not. It certainly doesn’t
come anywhere close to being as offensive as a film like Dogma,
which simply ridicules the religion itself. As long as you
don’t get too hung up on the little things this film should
sit well with the religious. Bruce isn’t saying anything
about Christianity or God so much as it is using it as a tool
to tell a story that goes beyond religion.
Could Bruce have been better? Yeah, probably. It’s
definitely not the best Jim Carrey movie ever, but you don’t
walk out of Bruce feeling cheated. It’s everything
it promises to be and that’s all I ever want out of a movie
anyway.
Bottom Line: This is a funny Jim Carrey flick with a good
message that I think the whole family can enjoy.
—Corey Herrick
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out of 5
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