Bruce Almighty

When Bruce Almighty first came out, we skipped it. Although I do think Jim Carrey can be funny, he's a one-note joke. Like Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell, he's funny when the script matches his particular talents. When it doesn't...he's not.

There's something of a theme to Carrey scripts: a situation gives him the ability to be crazily elastic - The Mask, The Grinch, and Batman Forever being prime examples. He's a living cartoon. He makes funny faces. He's funny, get it?

Carrey IS funny. I loved him in the Mask, hated him in the Grinch, and felt bad for him in Batman Forever. Bruce Almighty falls somewhere in the middle - it has a theme with pretty serious implications but it never rises above a Jim Carrey vehicle where he gets to be goofy and make funny faces.

The problem with Bruce Almighty is that it's about faith minus the religion. Which is fine, except that faith is now apparently vague references to God, and that's about it. Call it Bruceology.

Which is fine, except Bruce HATES GOD. He doesn't seem to have a valid reason to do so - certainly, there's absolutely no evidence that he's been brought up to believe in God or even care what God thinks. So it's more than a little forced when Bruce begins stomping around claiming, "God hates me!" Bruce seems more like an agnostic or an atheist. But he sure isn't the type to feel God has a personal hatred of him.

You can probably guess what happens next: God gives Bruce God-powers over a series of blocks in Boston. What happens next is actually an interesting guide to role-playing a deity, but only gamers think that way. Basically, it's Bruce being selfish in spectacular, God-like fashion and imitating God from movies he probably never saw (and we didn't either). Bruce Almighty smacks of condescension in a way that makes you start to suspect the producers think you're a moron and won't really remember (or never saw) The Ten Commandments or heck, even read the bible.

And yet...and yet there is one moment in Bruce Almighty that almost made me pee from laughing so hard. Ironically, the humor comes from Steven Carell playing Evan Baxer, Bruce's archrival for the anchor position on a news show. Over the span of what seems like an eternity, Bruce turns Evan into a gibbering idiot, forcing him to shout in a long, drawn out howl "NEWWWSS!" as if her were afflicted with Tourettes Syndrome. It's something you shouldn't be laughing at...you feel guilty for laughing. But hell, I'm laughing about it now.

I've come to the conclusion that someone IMITATING Carrey is actually funnier than Carrey himself.

Bruce Almighty has its moments. But it's not as funny as it should be because it doesn't take the premise seriously enough to be seriously funny.