Bruce Almighty Wasn't All That Powerful (Manly W/O)
Written: Jun 22 '03 (Updated Feb 23 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Jim Carey brings the only humor to this flim, not preachy, good acting
Cons: May be offending, not as funny as I expected, not the best Carey film
The Bottom Line: Wait for the dvd release, or view in theaters at bargain discount price, avoid full price admission.
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| Dbbum's Full Review: Bruce Almighty |
Ah yes Jim Carey! Who can forget the loveable days of The Mask, Ace Ventura, Dumb & Dumber, and the Cable Guy. He always seems to make an otherwise dule movie, extremely hilarious. That's one of the qualities I enjoy in Jim Carey, his ability to change. He can be sincere and honest one minute and the next minute he is doing something insanely daring or crazy, bringing humor into an otherwise serious situation. This is true for most scenes in his latest movie, Bruce Almighty.
The Story:
Bruce Nolan (Jim Carey) is a field reporter for a local news station. We find Bruce trying to joke around, and keep the story exciting because in reality it's rather boring. It's been his long time dream to become anchorman, and do live reports in the studio, all with the support of his girlfriend played by Jennifer Aniston. Finally one day he gets a break, a live feed from Niagara Falls. But what he finds out seconds before going live, is that another employee from the station gets the anchor position. This of course infuriates Bruce, and he eventually explodes on live television leading to a dismissal from the station.
Then the story really picks up from here on out. Bruce gets paged, doesn't know the number and disregards it. Yet he continues to get paged all day long. Even after tossing the pager out of the window and onto the streets the pages continue. Finally he decides to call the number to find out what is so important. A recording comes on, and is shocked by the message that follows. So he decides to go to the warehouse, which he later find out is God's "hideout". There are several humorous parts during this scene, but for the sake of surprise I'll let you find out what happens. Bruce is told he will have the powers of God once he leaves the building. All hell breaks loose from here on out.
Why Bruce?:
Throughout the pretext of the movie Bruce is constantly complaining to God about his life: why this, why that? Bruce was chosen to inherit the powers of God and take over while the 'real' God takes a vacation. This is done to show Bruce that being God is not an easy task. There are millions of prayers everyday, and lots of situations to oversee, all without effecting free will. Bruce quickly learns about the prayers. First putting them in file cabinets (which fills up the entire house), then turning them into stick-it notes (also covering the entire house), and finally creating an email inbox on his computer (which takes a looong time to download). Even with his super powers and abilities the prayers continue to pour in stacking up ever second of the day. To save time he makes the computer answer, 'Yes' to all prayers. As you can imagine this is not the best way to get by, and eventually riots break out due to the lack of care from Bruce (God).
There are many character changes throughout the movie, from Bruce blaming God, to having the powers and being selfish, to having the powers and helping out the entire world not just his beloved Buffalo Sabers and others in the local community. It takes a good actor to play this part, and again it all falls on the ever changing greatness of Jim Carey.
Funny, But Not Funny Enough:
I was expecting more from Jim Carey in the humor department but was left feeling short changed. I knew the presence of religion was a major contribution to the film, but wasn't ready for the 70% margin. There were several scenes that made me chuckle, but overall I didn't lose any bodily fluids from watching the film. Bruce using his powers to make a monkey come out of a gangsters butt, Bruce's parting of the red tomato soup, Bruce pretending to lasso the moon and then pulling it closer to earth, and of course the "How many fingers" session with Morgan Freeman as God.
Religious Aspect:
The first thing you should realize about Bruce Almighty, that this is a comedy movie, not based on God or other biblical facts. Some might even view this as a slap in the face to all Christians. For example, once Bruce inherits the powers of God he does childess acts to please himself. In one scene Bruce sends a jolt of power to lift a woman's skirt across the street, showing her legs and panties for a brief moment. Later that night Bruce comes home to his wife, and while getting ready for bed Bruce telepathically sends orgasmic jolts of power to his wife in the bathroom, making her knees weaken. In a later scene Bruce's wife comes to the kitchen table complaining that her breasts seem to be larger than usual. God would not be part of such acts, and most Christians would agree these scenes are an insult to both religon and God.
Another small aspect is the portrayal of God, who was played by Morgan Freeman. Again, some Christians see God as a white man, and find it appalling that a black man could be God. Personally the sake of this movie, I would not have cared if the character was played by Saddem Hussein. I can understand how people might get upset, but they just shouldn't watch the movie in the first place I guess. With all that aside, Morgan Freeman played the part well, being subtle and sincere as you would expect.
Recommendation:
In keeping with the Manly Write-Off theme, you better believe this movie would be good for a man. I mean look at the situations for a second and you'll see why. Bruce uses his powers to part his bowl of soup, makes a woman's dress fly up (Marilyn Manroe style), increases the size of his girlfriend's breasts, and also makes her orgasm while not even in the same room. Isn't this the dream of most guys? I think so! In any case Jim Carey is one of my favorite actors, and while he may not look like a manly man, his movies all but make up for it. If you enjoyed his earlier release, The Majestic or any other previous roles in Me, Myself & Irene, or Liar Liar then you should check out Bruce Almighty. Fair warning: if you are a believer in God and have strong Christian values, I wouldn't recommend taking the family out to see this one!
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This has been part of the "Manly" Write-off hosted by HawgWyld & Joubert.
Check out the other participants below.
Enjoy!
HawgWyld (host) | Joubert (host) | char.mike | Donnie013 | maggsmomm | AliventiAsylum | cathyjones | Dbbum | tombarnes | jenb123 | Mimi369 | Aerocat | Susie-34668 | Amykhar | erinrounds | mind-full | murasaki | RedDiva | SKAD13 | Logimom | Onelamefan | gaelkm | AdaDavis | amyk49 | Barefooter | drdevience | ginzo | jankp | jetbluefan1 | PacManY2J | Penguinlady | sweetcece | edsmith | martytdx | melissasrn | Misc_el | Mom2TyZick | Robinmichele | tigger500 | artbyjude | kcfoxy | lorenmgreen | cr01 | SweetyPeach | jlava73 | combat_rock | kld718 | Mike.Holmes | tombarnes | Debbie26 | pogomom | Sordid-1 | DGTurtle2 | lizf | chad8246 | Bryan Carey | Petra | jeff_wilder78 | ned1
Recommended:
Yes
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Dbbum
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Location: California
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