Bruce Almighty (2003)
Directed by Tom Shadyac
Bruce Nolan toils as a "human interest" television reporter in Buffalo, NY, but despite his high ratings and the love of his beautiful girlfriend, Bruce remains unfulfilled. At the end of the worst day in his life, he angrily ridicules God — and the Almighty responds, endowing Bruce with all of His divine powers.
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The film borrows a lot from the seminal classic "It's a Wonderful Life", including a cute homage in which Bruce literally lassos the moon to make the night more romantic.
It's just that, given the rich premise of the film, writers Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk could have done much more than turn it into a weak copy of "It's a Wonderful Life."
Basically, Bruce Almighty wants to be It's A Wonderful Life (explicitly referenced twice in the film) meets Groundhog Day, except they only really got as far as the pitch ("Jim Carrey IS God!
Considering that the basic story is just a variation of the old "It's A Wonderful Life" plot, it isn't surprising that the protagonist eventually recognizes that theme and has a transformation for the better.
An "It's a Wonderful Life" of 1946 -- which it seems to have as a model -- it's not.
Try to envision -- if you dare -- Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life with boob jokes, a running gag involving a urinating dog, a "butt monkey" and, worst of all, a tendency to mock the sort of gooey, uplifting twaddle that Carrey's film finally becomes.
I was reminded of Kevin Smith’s Dogma, a film with many faults that nevertheless managed to cast aspersions on a whole litany of sins including idolatry, adultery, suicide, cheating on taxes, and neglecting the needs of one’s elderly parents.
Other recent movies have featured the Lord as a character - "Dogma," the "Oh, God!" trilogy - but this is the first where a character inherits the powers of the deity.
Perhaps fearful of the reception that accompanied other films that attempted to fuse edgy humor with genuine thoughts and feelings about the nature of God (such as "Life of Brian" and "Dogma"), "Bruce Almighty" chooses to lay its "God is great" message with all of the subtlety of an especially ham-fisted Sunday-school teacher.
Much like Groundhog Day, the movie is endlessly inventive in the way it executes its concept.
Basically, Bruce Almighty wants to be It's A Wonderful Life (explicitly referenced twice in the film) meets Groundhog Day, except they only really got as far as the pitch ("Jim Carrey IS God!
Instead, Bruce Almighty is a film that wanted to be the Creator's Groundhog Day, but ended up closer to Life or Something Like It and King Ralph.
Think of the ecstatic confidence of Richard Pryor in the '70s, Robin Williams in the '80s, and Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice (1988): They raged, they purged—they mixed vaudeville and rock 'n' roll in equal proportions.
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Yup, this is Carrey’s own flash on Sullivan’s Travels, with a soupcon of Jerry Lewis–style self-regard/self-pity thrown in.
What should be a wild, unruly, possibly sacrilegious fable � think Life of Brian � becomes a didactic companion piece to The Truman Show, with Carrey as hapless puppeteer instead of hapless puppet.
Perhaps fearful of the reception that accompanied other films that attempted to fuse edgy humor with genuine thoughts and feelings about the nature of God (such as "Life of Brian" and "Dogma"), "Bruce Almighty" chooses to lay its "God is great" message with all of the subtlety of an especially ham-fisted Sunday-school teacher.
In fact, "Bruce Almighty" is one of Carrey's funniest and smartest movies -- right up to the point when the screenwriters and director Tom Shadyac ("Ace Ventura," "Liar Liar," "Patch Adams") reel in the clever comedy and roll out the stock plot conflicts (Grace walks in on Bruce being kissed by a sexpot anchorwoman and now he must win her back!) and the cloying, heavy-handed moral-of-the-story messages.
He was the man behind the gruesome Patch Adams (1998), in which Robin Williams brought inspirational zaniness into the lives of terminally ill kids, and last year's Dragonfly, in which Kevin Costner was haunted by a ghost with a loving agenda.
Director Tom Shadyac is complicit in the breakdown, indulging the same Capra-esque impulse that coated his "Patch Adams" with a thick layer of goo.
All of this might go down easier if Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (Dragonfly, Patch Adams) weren’t so determined to set their sights equally low in every other respect.
But director Tom Shadyac can't resist slipping into Patch Adams mode.
See, the first thing I’d do if I was God for a week would be to cast “director” Tom Shadyac into a nice, deep, despairing pit of hell, where there’s nothing to do but watch Dragonfly and Patch Adams over and over.
Instead, Bruce Almighty is a film that wanted to be the Creator's Groundhog Day, but ended up closer to Life or Something Like It and King Ralph.
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That perhaps the film's funniest bit rests not on the shoulders of Carrey but Steven Carell as Bruce's workplace rival speaks of how little spark is left in the traditional Carrey-Shadyac formula, not to mention the general lack of inspiration the screenplay (credited to Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and frequent Carrey collaborator Steve Oedekerk), which ultimately plays like a pale rehash of the far more amusing Liar Liar , right down to the forced sentimentality.
In fact, "Bruce Almighty" is one of Carrey's funniest and smartest movies -- right up to the point when the screenwriters and director Tom Shadyac ("Ace Ventura," "Liar Liar," "Patch Adams") reel in the clever comedy and roll out the stock plot conflicts (Grace walks in on Bruce being kissed by a sexpot anchorwoman and now he must win her back!) and the cloying, heavy-handed moral-of-the-story messages.
In Bruce Almighty, his third movie with director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective [1994], Liar Liar [1997]), Carrey plays another Ace deviation, this time named Bruce.
The second is his devout wish to reunite with director Tom Shadyac, the erstwhile Moses who once led him to the golden land of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Liar Liar.
Oederkerk's screenplay resume includes Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, both The Nutty Professor movies, and Patch Adams; Mr. Shadyac's directorial canon includes the first Ace Ventura movie, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, and?does any movie invite more derision??Patch Adams.