Bruce Almighty - Review

Jim Carrey is one funny guy. This was of course back in his hay-day where it seemed like every movie he touched turned to gold, at least at the box office. Here, he does a great job as a man who is fed up with life and what it has to offer him and who is given god's powers and duty. With this premise, you can get a lot of laughs because you start to think, "If I had all godly powers, what would I do?" and Jim Carrey has a lot of fun on screen here. However, with this premise warrants a powerful message about doing the right thing. Morgan Freeman has a great line about how splitting a bowl of soup in two (referencing parting the sea where Moses lead his people out of Egypt) is not a miracle but a magic trick. A miracle is when a mom is working two jobs and still manages time to take her son to soccer practice. Simple acts of love are the real miracles and how we have the power inside us all along. It is kind of strange to think a message as powerful as that is in a movie where Jim Carrey literally uses his godly powers to give "heavenly" orgasms to his wife played by Jennifer Aniston. Also, it is also strange seeing Steve Carrell play the "villain" of the film. I am so used to seeing him as the lovable, awkward, protagonist in films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin or even his character in Anchorman. That's all I really have to say about this movie. See, unless a comedy really pisses me off and I am able to tear it apart using critical analysis (Ghostbusters) then it is hard to review a comedy because I hate being the guy that simply lists all the jokes and then expects the audience to laugh at them again. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule of course (Little Miss Sunshine) but most comedies I'll leave you with a simple answer of whether or not the film made me laugh. My answer here is yes.