Movie: Bruce Almighty
Starring Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, Morgan Freeman
Directed by Tom Shadyac; Written by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe (Universal/Spyglass)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes

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Bruce Almighty follows the old formula, "just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down." The medicine in this case is the old idea that prayer works.

It's a lot more than just a spoonful actually, it's a whole banana split's worth of sugar and the cherry on top is Jim Carrey's incredible brand of slapstick. Jim plays a small time newscaster in Buffalo who actually has a pretty good life with his girlfriend, Grace. (Obvious name, but they are trying for an It's A Wonderful Life kind of feel-good movie here.) Anyway Bruce thinks he's been slighted by God so he calls him up by prayer, and God (Morgan Freeman) obligingly gives him all his powers for a short period of time to prove that he's not so bad at all. Preposterous? Sure, but at least it sets up all kinds of gee-I-wish-I-could-do-that fantasies that make great entertainment.

Philosophically Bruce Almighty is on pretty shaky ground. It valiantly tries to make some points about free will and choice, but even when the church tries to talk about something like that it gets pretty murky so I can't really fault the writers for not making things clearer. They could have done better on some other points though. I don't buy the TV station ever giving him his job back, God-powers or not, and I'm not sold on Bruce's later conversion into an unselfish guy who's happy with his place in life either. But maybe I feel that way just because I'm Philosopher-in-residence around here. As light comedy Bruce Almighty works really well.

The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the film? Yes, it had a lot of laughs.
Would I go to see it again? I'd sooner see Dogma, but sure, I'd see this again.

© 2003 - Rusty Pipes