Jim Carrey has never been my favourite. His goofy face, overused in The Mask and Ace Ventura and wotnot just got on my nerves too much. However, the "serious" performances in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon impressed me, and as these films were the most recent films of his, I figured he'd be a similar character. But from the get-go, his face was contorting unnecessarily into a few hundred exaggerated expressions. To me, it was just not needed and really turned me off the film.
After the initial 30 minutes of "worst day" shenanigans, Carrey's Bruce puts the jive on God Above so much so that God (Morgan Freeman(Alanis must have been busy)) bestows all his power unto him.
And this is where the story really starts. Bruce goes hogwild and begins exacting revenge left, right and middles. This film almost becomes deep, but shies away from that American Gothic favourite concept of "the illusion of free will."
But this film is a comedy, and it has funny bits. Many of them. I was in a cinema with kids of 11, so urination gags were quite well received. Jennifer Aniston played an amusing role; every bit as good as her bit in Office Space.
Bruce Almighty (the film) winds up just as shallow and disappointing as Bruce His-self; coming to terms with his lot in life and dealing with excessive mediocrity. To my mind, not enough abuses were explored, for example (as Ethan pointed out to me) "if given the powers of God, could Bruce kill God?" (or something along those lines. It isn't a terrible film by any means; entertaining and lively. Just don't go looking for the deeper meaning.
Reviewed on Saturday, 28 June 2003