Ark Of The Congressman
Written: Jun 30 '07
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Good performances
Cons: Unfocused story and direction
The Bottom Line: Evan merely meets the Almighty.
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| pmills1210's Full Review: Evan Almighty |
Four years after he earned an anchor desk in Bruce Almighty, Evan Baxter has earned yet another desk. Steve Carell returns as the former anchorman in Evan Almighty, who now is a freshman Congressman who was elected on his pledge to "Change the world." Evan and his wife, Joan (Lauren Graham) have purchased a spacious home for themselves and their three sons. The person who helped them secure a home is fellow Representative Chuck Long (John Goodman). Long thinks the former reporter is a fine choice to help to ensure passage of a land bill that has been the pet project of Long and his allies. When Long wants Baxter's support, Evan agrees, and Long sends the volumes of legislation to Evan's office, which Long also helped to secure.
Strange things start to happen, though, when the Baxters take residence in their new home. The alarm keeps going off at 6:14 AM instead of at 7 AM, as Evan had set it. Trucks deliver items to Evan's house that neither he nor any other member of his family has ordered. Eve Adams (Molly Shannon), the realtor who sold the Baxters their home, excitedly returns and congratulates Evan on buying all of the surrounding properties. Then, Evan gets a visit from God (Morgan Freeman), who tells Evan of an impending flood, and tells him to make an ark with the materials He has sent. For added effect, he makes Evan look like the biblical ark builder Noah. Not only does Long start to question Evan's sanity, but so does everyone else Evan knows. All sorts of animals, however, congregate around the Representative.
Evan Almighty is an interesting idea for a sequel, but the big problem that the movie has is its indecision in the tone it wishes to take. Bruce Almighty was intended as a comedy, but Evan Almighty has elements of both comedy and drama. Anyone familiar with the Bible knows that in the aftermath of Noah and his ark, God promised not to devastate the world like that again. They also understand that the references to 6:14 refer to the chapter in Genesis where God commands Noah to build his big boat. Evan is led to believe that a catastrophe is about to occur. Everybody is very reluctant to believe Evan. At one point, Joan takes the children and leaves him. If God was playing a practical joke on the Congressman by making him look old and taking away his wardrobe, He needs to develop new jokes. The transformed Evan is a bit taken directly from The Santa Clause movies. The birds that flock around Evan and leave droppings on his clothes and his car is a gag that has been done so many times, it's not a gag anymore. The physical change of Evan is both unnecessary and unexplained, though some will say that the Lord works in mysterious ways. Other parts seem to be an update of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. The movie doesn't know whether to make us think or make us laugh. Consequently, it fails for the most part in both areas.
God (or, at least, director Tom Shadyac and screenwriter Steve Odedkirk) should have let Carell play to his comic strength as Evan. Carell has shown himself to be a very effective strait-laced man, much like Bob Newhart has been in his career. Unlike Newhart, the comic persona of Carell can get a little lost in his surroundings. Maybe the filmmakers were trying too hard to not make Evan Baxter another Jefferson Smith. They should have realized this comparison is unavoidable, as both Evan and Jeff are political novices whose first big task is dealing with political veterans who are used to crushing any opponent. God could have let Evan be himself and conduct business that way. The ark was meant to be an off-hours diversion, and any references Evan made to the Lord's work needed to be handled more subtly. Even the dance that Evan did in his successful campaign and for God didn't make me laugh. It simply makes Mr. Baxter look like a fool instead of an earnest crusader. Carell is good with the material, but his material fails to deliver the comic goods I expect from a comic performer.
Wanda Sykes, who plays Baxter's secretary, Rita Daniels, gets the best humorous material. She knows that Congress has changed Evan, but she doesn't let any of those changes visibly shock her until the film's climax. She makes any wise cracks she has to herself, or to Baxter's top aide (John Michael Higgins), and she puts service to her Congressman ahead of any issues she might have with his behavior. Freeman still does a good job as God, but the one thing that Evan needed most - a comic philosophy for his predicament - was the one thing the Lord didn't provide. Graham and Goodman, like Carell, are good, but they are more serious than they are humorous. Jon Stewart, as himself in two scenes, has more humorous material than Carell, his old associate from The Daily Show.
In Evan Almighty, Evan Baxter doesn't even get the chance to be the Almighty. He simply becomes the key instrument in God's plan. At the beginning of Evan's term, which inexplicably begins at some point well beyond the beginning of the calendar year, Long takes a liking to the new Congressman because he believes Evan will hit the ground running. Baxter comes to see that neither hitting the ground nor running may be awaiting him in his new career. Meanwhile, many viewers will leave this movie wondering if they have seen a comedy or a drama. They will find themselves awash in a preachy story complemented by gags that seem to have been around since the original Noah's Ark. Evan Almighty never finds its direction, and so it becomes a cinematic shipwreck.
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: If Your First Choice is Sold Out
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
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Member: Pat Mills
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"Nothing in moderation." - Ernie Kovacs. Read and enjoy!
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