Bruce Almighty...All Jim Carey...All Over Again
Written: May 27 '03 (Updated May 28 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Morgan Freeman, tough theology done justice, Aniston was believable without Carey.
Cons: jiM CaRey, JIm cAREY, j'm CArEy, JiMCaReY,...tries to look different, but is always the SAME!!!
The Bottom Line: There's too much movie competition, too much spent on tickets, popcorn, drinks, and too many similar Jim Carey movies unless you GOTTA see your man Jim at ANY cost.
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| bntowen's Full Review: Bruce Almighty |
Warning: Jim Carey fans may experience dizziness, nausea, and profound irritability after reading this review. The writer cannot be responsible for your predictable discomfort.
Sliding the money to the ticket counter felt like buying a Powerball ticket. Sure I could win with this Jim Carey film, but I’ve spent so much money trying, should I really try again? I did. And when the winning numbers were read throughout this 100ish minute film, my hopes for a good Jim Carey experience went up in smoke. I’ve been burned by Jim Carey movies too often because either there isn’t a director willing to tell him, “Show me the character’s layers!" or there's crème puff writers who write (Jim does gag here) every other line, or there's Studios who enjoy taking typecasting to new heights.
Just the opening credits worried me. I heard Carey’s voice, and I knew it was about listening and watching Jim to gain access to the story. Even a burned out WalMart-sized psychologist can tell you that story makes me want to see the characters. That’s’ why the grande-movie-hit directors pick little known actors to play serious roles so we see the story unfold upon the character and thereby plunge into the film. Jim Carey just does Jim Carey again.
Carey failed in this film because he wasn’t truly transformed by the other actors, the theology, or the all-powerful experience gone semi-bad, i.e. not transformed by the story! At the end all the massive God-sized mistakes and experiences led to him acting the same way in the same location. Oh, and that reminds me. I used the Force to detect the writer wanted to show that absolute power in the hands of a man absolutely corrupts not the person, but the world around him. Carey’s character in one scene answers all the prayers of the world “yes”. The world! What if the Iraqi Army and the US Army was praying that night? There’d be devastation in biblical proportions, dog and cats sleeping together…mass hysteria! (I love that Ghostbusters line).
All that happens are problems in Buffalo, NY (which we don’t see ANY real shots of to set something called THE SCENE). I’ve watched a lot of Star Trek baby! The Prime Directive was like a fortune cookie suggestion in this film. Consequences? Schmonsequences! One silly little tsunami in Japan for bringing the Moon halfway to Earth! I know it’s a suspension of reality comedy flick, and I do have a sense of humor…I just wrote schmonsequences for Morgan’s sake! What would have served Jim’s I-want-to-be-seen-as-a-serious-actor-craving is a life threatening consequence he had to permanently deal with after abusing God’s power such as his news anchor buddy (Steve Carell) committing or trying to commit suicide after Jim makes his coworker do some very funny things on camera that get him fired. There are no lasting consequences in his relationship with his girlfriend played by Friends star Jennifer Aniston either.
And about her. I’ll break ranks with some who didn’t like her end prayer scene and say I liked her, I cared about her character because she did her best acting when Jim wasn’t around. Jim is an upstage waiting to happen because he wants to please the audience too much. I know I’m back on Jim again, but Morgan-damn-it he plays to the audience too much. That’s not acting and being funny, that’s just acting funny which can be funny but please don’t do fifty gags in a movie and whine about how people don’t take you as a serious actor.The story is predictable, Jim is predictable, the ending quasi-predictable. Who wasn't predictable? Morgan Freeman.
Morgan Freeman acting strength dragged me out of an extended stay in the video arcade. He played a believable God character, and acted. He didn't try to make me laugh, cry, or anything. He doesn't TRY to make me feel anything. He just acts/portrays which causes me to feel where ever the story goes. I also loved how he acted when he wasn't delivering lines. For instance, I loved how he listened to Jim Carey deliver his lines (and I meant to write delivered his lines versus acting). Most actors are judged by what they say. Great actors can talk and listen in character. Morgan studies Jim’s character trying to glean something from Jim’s delivery. Time and time again in this film, Freeman set the bar higher and higher for Carey. He even tempered Carey’s gags with deflating humor. Thank you God…I mean Morgan. Also, Director Shadyac’s only redeeming direction for this movie was the supernatural/theological imagery he wrapped around Freeman. As a recovering sinner, I saw God peel off the everyday janitor suit into the shiny-whites, back into the janitor role, and into the unseen force role. It was The Trinity shown rather than said.
Now for another nugget in the dirt for me in this movie. There’s an end scene where Carey and Freeman a.k.a. God have close dialogue. Carey thinks he prays well, and Freeman blows him away, and tells him to get real and ask what he really wants. Carey forced himself to have a one-minute gag-free moment, and deliver the lines as written for a prayer that rocks. Morgan’s smile in reaction to Jim’s line delivery wasn’t just acting amazed and relieved, I firmly believe he amazed he got that from Carey in the moment.
As for the theology, one cannot find two more human mind-blowing concepts than God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. What is difficult to reconcile is that both truths exist at the same time. I know the church goers on one side of the street says it’s all sovereignty an no human choice matters, and the churchgoers across the street say it’s all man’s free will, and the people driving past those churches don’t care. But Director, Shadyac et. al. had a tall order to fill. I’ll give them credit. They tried to be subtle. Stop rolling your eyes, and read the last sentence again. I said TRIED. Most Hollywood attempts at theology usually involve a cartoon character urging us to “follow your heart”. The writers here at least confused our brains about it, and gave us confidence in Morgan Freeman’s God-portrayal that knowing him is better than knowing the answer. That’s how it’s works in this broken-down-under-repair-life of mine. That may not be you, but at least it wasn’t the Church Lady telling you to, “Get right or you’re gonna get left!” theology.
Carey’s trashed his life so royally that he can do nothing but choose more painful disaster or surrender to God. It’s like Carey gave up his right to free will that was Freeman’s gift to him all along which Freeman predicted at the movie’s end. Two opposing truths existing at the same time is called an antimony. Anyway, if you’re still reading this, my point was the filmmakers had a tough job here, and pulled it off well enough to rent this puppy. Do not, repeat, do not pay full price for this movie. Word on the street is Jim Carey’s made one with Spielberg. If anyone can take a typecast actor to the next level it’s Spielberg. If not, listen for Jim Carey’s voice for the next decade in Hanna-Barbarra’s, Ace Ventura 15.
Recommended:
No
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bntowen
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Member: Bradford Owen
Location: North Carolina Mountains, USA
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
Father of five, full-time shrink, part-time writer, actor, referee, living on a massive 3/4acre estate.
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