Bruce Almighty

Starring: Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Philip Baker Hall, Catherine Bell
Directed by: Tom Shadyac
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2003

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: A TV reporter (Jim Carrey) is given God's (Morgan Freeman) powers, which he uses for selfish reasons to improve his life.

Review:

Tim: I'm actually a really big fan of Bruce Almighty. This is a really funny comedy that is also unique for its religious aspect. The movie ultimately has a truly great message (Be the miracle!). It's rare to find a really funny, occasionally gross-out comedy (the line "anal-dwelling butt monkey" is used") that also has a really powerful, positive message. This is a unique film, and it also happens to be very entertaining.

The movie focuses on a guy who too often feels like a victim of God's wrath. When things don't go his way, he blames God, instead of focusing on his own role. We've all been there before. It is easy to blame everyone else instead of taking responsibility. And, God is an easy target- he's not exactly going to voice his concern. This movie gives us a protagonist who we can relate to, which is a great start to the film. The fantasy element is that God actually does step in and gives him a view of what it's like to be the almighty. Sure, this brings incredible abilities, but there's also a pretty heavy level of responsibility that goes with that.

The scenes where Jim Carrey is selfishly exploiting God's powers are some of the funniest and most entertaining of the film. We've probably all thought at one time or another, what it would be like to have omnipotent powers. It would certainly make the commute to work easier. It would make life much easier and much more fun. Carrey is the perfect actor for this part. As he gets older and his career moves into the latter stages, I worry that he'll find it increasingly difficult to find terrific roles in great movies. This one is a fantastic one for him, though.

Carrey has always done a great job of using his physicality as an actor to get laughs. He utilizes this extremely well here, and really creates some hilarious, memorable moments. He makes the character of Bruce someone we can immediately identify with and actually care about. This is so important to the film, and is one of the main reasons why this movie works so successfully. I'm a huge fan of Jim Carrey in this movie.

Jennifer Aniston is fairly decent as Carrey's wife. She doesn't have the most fleshed out character, but she's good in her smaller role. Morgan Freeman is terrifically cast as God. He's probably the best actor in Hollywood to pull off this part. He is kind, funny, edgy- in short, he's an extremely cool God. I really love the casting, and Freeman helps the film out immensely. He works very well with Carrey, too.

The movie also features a small role for Steve Carell (nnd he has one truly hilarious scene) and Catherine Bell, whom I really like and believe is far underrated in Hollywood. Unfortunately, she's underutilized here.

Bruce Almighty is a really strong comedy. I liked the characters, was able to relate to the story, and felt a bit touched by the message. I laughed and was entertained- this is a very good movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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