Bruce Almighty

I gotta hand it to this movie. They ride a fine line of a secular movie about God. I have to hand it to them.

Bruce Almight, to me, is one of Jim Carrey's last really good comedies. Sure, its not his best comedies and it has a lot of problems. However, watching this movie last night just kind of brought back a lot of nostalgia and just kind of made me think, they don't really make movies like this anymore.

I suppose that could be a good thing... and a bad thing.

Bruce Almighty is the story of a news reporter by the name of Bruce Nolan (played by Jim Carrey). Nolan is reaching a point in his life where he feels he isn't getting the most out of his life. He mostly reports on the funny and light hearted stuff when he really wants to be a news anchor.

His girlfriend Grace,(played by Jennifer Aniston) is incredibly supportive of Bruce and its somewhat hard to believe because the beginning really gives us a mixed view of Bruce. On one hand he's incredibly selfish and self centered, and on the other hand he's said to be a good guy not capable of being an asshole. They show off the relationship between Bruce and Grace well enough to make it believable but its a little more than ambition.

So after he's passed up for a promotion, and subsequently fired in result of his reaction to this news, Bruce gets very angry and blames God for all his problems. He gets a call from a mysterious number telling him to go to a warehouse. There he meets God.

Literally. No seriously, this is the movie that now that anybody thinks about what God may look like, Morgan Freeman is the answer.

This has to be one of the greatest casting choices ever because it just makes sense. I'm not saying the man is God incarnate but... he is.

And the movie tries to be as subtle as it can to say that this is just God. Not the Christian God, not the Jewish God, not Allah, just God. There's no direct mention of the Bible, or Jesus, just comedic references to God in a broad sense.

Does it seem like its the Christian God? Yes it does. But I almost feel like the way he's done could possibly strike a chord with all religions. Maybe I'm just saying that because I'm christian and secretly this movie was made for me, but it feels like it was trying to be pretty vague, or as vague as it could be.

God makes a deal with Bruce, since Bruce believes God has been doing such an awful job, God gives him the challenge of doing it better. He gives Bruce all the powers and responsibilities of God and lets him do what he wants with the conditions that he cannot tell anybody he's God and that he cannot manipulate free will.

What comes next is just Bruce using the powers of god for his own purposes including wooing his girlfriend, getting a new car for himself, getting his job back, and making a career for himself.

There's also a bit about prayer and how God responds to them. First Bruce gets all the prayers in his head, then he puts them all into filing cabinets, then he puts them in postit notes, then he gets the idea of putting them in email.

The middle part of this film, is A LOT of fun.

Giving Jim Carrey the powers of God is just a perfect combination. Jim Carrey really lets it loose in this one and while sometimes it doesn't seem reasonable that this person would be allowed to walk the earth in this behavior and not be put into a mental institution, Jim Carrey just has a lot of fun with this role.

The movie still makes me laugh, even 12 years later. Its just a lot of fun.

And then there's the last third of the movie. Now obviously the powers of God really go to Bruce's head and he just kind of becomes an asshole.

Don't get me wrong, the movie still makes me laugh. But there's just a point where Bruce is no longer the asshole who is harmless and he really becomes an asshole. It works for the story but again, he was never really nice to begin with so why make him even more of an asshole?

Then there's the part of the film where there's a falling out between him and his girlfriend and there's a sad montage of them being apart... but then when you think its going to be resolved... it doesn't really resolve.

Again, the last act isn't bad. Its very good in fact. Its just kind of sloppy in parts and kind of drags.

Also the conclusion also comes very quickly and while I think it does resolve well, the conclusion comes very quickly and wraps up kind of sloppily. Its not a horrible ending... just not as great.

I don't know. I still love this movie and the ratings it has on review websites like Rotten Tomatoes really confuses me, even the the public reviews. I always thought this of a very accepted comedy back in 2003. Granted, I was 10 when this movie came out so I wasn't as in tune with movies.

In short, I really love this movie. I wouldn't say its a comedic classic, but its really damn close. The performances are very good from Carrey to Freeman to Aniston, and early Steve Carrell even, something I didn't notice until years later. There's not much to complain about with this movie with the exception of a messy ending and a confusing protagonist.

But what do you think? Do you remember Bruce Almighty? Do you think it comes close to being a comedy classic? Comment and Discuss below!

I'll leave you with this. I never actually saw the sequel Evan Almighty. I don't have much of an interest in it... but here's the trailer. Enjoy!