At the beginning of this summer, after I graduated from college and was
sitting around with nothing in particular to do, my mom suggested I go
to a bunch of movies this summer on opening day and submit a review to
the local newspaper. My first attempt was going to be Bruce Almighty,
and I went and saw it on the first night. But somehow, I never got
around to reviewing it. After a year straight of frantically writing for
school, I just couldn’t get up the motivation to write anything, not
even a movie review. I abandoned the plan then and there. So here I am
reviewing the movie three months later. Better late than never, I guess!
I first heard of Bruce Almighty when I went to see Don
McLean’s free concert in Buffalo last summer. One of the opening bands,
Tom Stahl and the Dangerfields, introduced a song they had written
about being God for a day by claiming it would be featured in the
upcoming Jim Carrey film Bruce Almighty, filmed in Buffalo and
centered around an ordinary guy who becomes God. They later admitted
their song wouldn’t be in the movie, but we made a mental note of the
film as something that might be worth checking out.
I had my reservations about this film. My first exposure to Jim Carrey was Ace Ventura, and other films such as the sequel, Dumb and Dumber, and Liar, Liar featured a manic, gross-out Jim whose appeal was strongest among pre-teen boys. Though I have to admit that ultimately, Liar, Liar
was a pretty good movie… but there was a whole lot of malarkey along
the way. Jim’s recent films have, for the most part, been much calmer. I
loved his performance in The Truman Show, and The Majestic was great as well. Not to mention that unexpected bit part in Simon Birch.
He seems to be veering away from gross-out comedy and into everyday
nice guy roles, in which he comes across as very sweet and sincere. I
hope he continues in that vein. Nonetheless, this film sounded to me
like an excuse for Jim to go nuts with his manic energy and leave a
whole lot of blasphemy in his wake. I was pleasantly surprised.
That’s not to say there is no over-the-top or crude humor in this film,
because there is. Just far less than I expected. Bruce’s (Jim Carrey)
dog delights in defiling the furniture, and we get to see him do it on a
number of occasions. When he gets God’s powers, Bruce uses them for
such noble purposes as sending a breeze up a leggy woman’s skirt,
enhancing his girlfriend Grace’s (Jennifer Anniston) chest, and reducing
his rival anchor to a blithering idiot on live television. And there
is, of course, some foul language. But compared to some of Carrey’s
early efforts, this movie is very tame. And, surprise surprise, it
manages to be reverent as well.
Bruce is a guy who feels like
the world is against him. When he gets passed up for promotion in favor
of the boss’ pet anchor, humiliates himself on live television as the
news is broken to him, and gets beaten up by thugs when he tries to
defend a homeless man, he thinks his life can’t get much worse. Grace
urges him to have some patience and trust God, but Bruce counters with
his theory that God’s a cruel puppet master who couldn’t care less about
the well-being of his creations. After demanding a sign from God (which
he receives, but fails to notice, in the form of road signs that he
passes in his car), Bruce launches a tirade against the Almighty.
Next thing he knows, his phone is ringing off the hook, always from a
mysterious number he has never seen before (incidentally, a real number –
several people in the United States were bombarded with phone calls
after moviegoers jotted down the number and called it, leaving their
questions and comments for God). Finally, he calls and is directed to a
building where he meets Morgan Freeman in three incarnations: a janitor,
an electrician, and God. God offers Bruce the use of His powers for a
while to see if he can handle it. When he realizes that he actually does
have God’s powers, Bruce has a grand old time, doing fancy tricks and,
for the most part, advancing his career by creating catastrophes and
being the first to report on them. But being God isn’t all it’s cracked
up to be, as Bruce discovers when he sees the list of unanswered prayers
awaiting him. When he takes the easy way out and answers “yes” to
everyone’s pleas, havoc ensues. Meanwhile, he’s too caught up in his new
role as star newscaster to pay much attention to Grace, and her
patience reaches its limits. By the end of the film, Bruce is in quite a
mess, and getting himself out of it will require a radical change in
lifestyle and a little divine assistance.
Bruce is a pretty
likable character in this movie. He’s a decent guy, just down on his
luck. Jim’s manic antics come into play mostly when he is trying out his
powers, as well as when he does goofy features for the news. For
instance, in the opening segment, he parodies Chariots of Fire (again – a similar parody appeared in The Grinch)
by running down a line of people with cups in their hands and pouring
milk as he goes. A pretty messy moment. (There are several other
parodies in the film as well, including a scene reminiscent of the
John-Coffey-spitting-out-bugs scenes in The Green Mile and several allusions to The Ten Commandments.)
There’s a lot of comedy in this movie, and he is the source for much of
it. But it is in his serious moments that he really shines,
particularly in his life-altering conversations with God.
Jennifer Anniston is brings a lot of sweetness to the role of Grace.
Unlike in the recent film of that title, she really is a “good girl.”
And she loves Bruce but feels like she’s not getting much love in
return. One thing that caught me off-guard – as well as several others I
talked to – was the fact that the two were not married. They live as
though they are married, and we don’t learn until the middle of the film
that Grace is waiting for a proposal. It’s not a huge deal, certainly
nothing deviating from the norm depicted in movies nowadays, but those
steamy pre-marital scenes detract just a bit from the reverent feel of
the film. But then the film has a lot to do with redemption, so it makes
sense that not everything about the main characters’ lives would fit
the perfect Judeo-Christian mold.
As God, Morgan Freeman does a
fantastic job. He is distinguished but down-to-earth with a gentle
sense of humor that makes Him especially endearing. I think it’s the
most appealing version of God I have seen on film. At its heart, this is
a religious movie, and the director, a devout Catholic, conferred with a
clergyman friend of his for advice on what God should say. Freeman’s
God is active and deeply concerned for the affairs of His people, but He
also encourages them to take responsibility for themselves. “Be the
miracle” is the film’s closing sentiment, leaving viewers with the
feeling that we should put our trust in a benevolent God but not expect
Him to do everything for us. We can make a positive difference in our
own lives and the lives of others each and every day.
In the
end, then, this is a very worthwhile and reverent movie with enough
comedy and drama to keep it entertaining and enough spiritual substance
to warrant a sermon or Sunday school discussion. It was much better than
I expected, and its merits overcome its low points. As Bruce was so
fond of saying in the film, “It’s good!”
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