What would you do if you got hold of a script about a guy who is given God’s powers to do with as he pleases? Would you get Jim Carrey! And, pay him a boat load of money to make the film! Or, Adam Sandler – he’s already been the devil can’t be that far of a stretch to play God. Who’s more bankable? Yes even God has to deal with finances.

Bruce Almighty is yet another summer blockbuster vehicle for comedian Jim Carrey. Much like many of Jim Carrey’s previous films the setup is quite contrite and constructed perfect for his comedic talents and timings. Like “Liar, Liar” for example in which Jim Carrey played a lawyer who you just couldn’t ever imagine would ever make it in a courtroom even when not cursed – Jim Carrey as God pulls everything cliché out of his invisible magical white hat and makes us laugh at God. And yes, we do laugh at God. God has to have a sense of humor, he gave us one right?

In Bruce Almighty, Bruce Nolan/Jim Carrey is a unhappy creative piece reporter for a local television station who longs for a desk job as a main reporter. The film opens with him reporting on a really big cookie while awaiting news on who is going to get a soon to be opened desk job after the retirement of a major anchor. Bruce's major opponent in the race for the desk job is Evan Baxter/Steven Carell a clean cut no humor (which is why we don’t like him – yet the actor is very funny) reporter who also gets much better assignments. Bruce also has a girlfriend, Grace Connelly/Jennifer Anniston who is an elementary school teacher and a pet dog who has not quite yet mastered in-house potty training (a running gag that obviously we knew would take the film’s length to be resolved).

Things change when one day, name curses God for he has been passed up for the aforementioned promotion, wrecked his car, his dog has peed all over the place, stepped in a puddle, gotten beaten up – a typical really bad day in cinema. God then begins to page name, and when name finally returns the page he meets God/Morgan Freeman and in a rather lengthy sequence is given a gift from God – his powers to do with as he pleases.

Name of course doesn’t know what to do at first. There are a few humorous scenes of name walking on water in a puddle, getting his car to start without turning a key, parting his soup bowl full of red tomato soup (parting the red sea get it?!? – hahaha), and of course the jokes you may have seen in the films trailer the walking on water, bursting a fire hydrant, blowing up a woman’s dress, moving the moon, enlarging breasts, dog using toilet, clothes coming off quickly – all things that yes many of us probably would think of doing if we had the powers but perhaps not all perfectly formulated as such a movie requires.

The worse thing about Bruce Almighty for me would have to be that once name gets the powers of God a lot of what he does with those powers has already been ruined by the trailer for the movie. If you, as a viewer, find yourself lucky enough to have never seen the trailer or any commercials for the film you will probably laugh at least twice as much as I did. That’s not to say, of course, that there are not jokes in the movie that were not in the trailer – in fact there are quite a few missing from the trailer that were laugh out loud hilarious, especially the scenes with Bruce now using his powers to try to take away the desk job from Evan. Special note, there is a deleted scene on the DVD with additional antics that Bruce puts Evan through some of which get a little violent even including blood and hair on fire.

The jest of Bruce Almighty is actually a balance of two stories. There’s the personal story – using the powers of God for one’s own person gains and the spiritual story – Bruce having to come to terms that he has God’s powers which include answering prayers and the consequences of answering incorrectly or without care. By the end, Bruce understands that his powers cannot fix everything and he also learns that he has to give more credit to God and what he must balance day in and day out. It is an expected ending to say the least but I guess one that couldn’t be avoided unless all those involved in the production of the movie were really willing to go out on a limb.

Overall, I actually laughed quite a bit with Bruce Almighty. I would have laughed more if I hadn’t seen half the jokes over and over in the film’s trailer especially since so many of them happen in succession in the movie as they do in the trailer. What was missing from the trailer is enough comedy to rent the movie and in fact there are at least two scenes I can remember that I basically almost cried from laughter (hint: has something to do with a comet and something to do with post-it notes). I thought about buying this DVD but the price was a little steep even for a new release so I ended up renting and that’s about as far as I’ll go. Maybe someday, in some far off Christmas I may ask for it – but it was nothing too special on its own or in the span of Jim Carrey’s career.

The DVD

Bruce Almighty is a single disc package. Upon inserting the DVD into your player there are a few previews that automatically come up that you can’t skip unless you use your fast forward button (I hate automatic previews). The menu is animated and gives the basics including the special features section in which there are a couple of commentaries and deleted scenes worthy to have been deleted. The commentary I listened to wasn’t much except to have someone talk constantly on the many antics Jim Carrey goes through, throughout the production of the movie. Overall, I felt there could have been some more special features including a much longer outtakes section, but I’d buy the DVD if the price was a lot cheaper, say down to $14.99. That would be about right for my purchase power.




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD