Bruce Almighty êêêê

Reviewed By Demetrius Payne

30 Second Bottom Line: What would you do if you were given the powers of the Almighty? Better yet, think that you were the Almighty Himself. What would you do if you could move the moon, illuminate the stars, make the impossible possible, control people's every word & configure the world to your liking? Close your eyes & imagine having that power. Now try & think of ONE GOOD REASON why it should be given to Jim Carrey?!?!

Bruce Nolan is having a bad day, actually a bad couple of days, & if you let Bruce tell it, a bad life. He is at the point of his life where he is about to turn 40 & he feels as if he is no where near where he wants to be in life, he's a lot closer than many people in similar shoes are, but he can't see that (better yet just won't see it). For all the things that he doesn't have in life, he never takes a second to gratefully ponder all the things that he does have. This belief reaches its zenith in the form of not getting the promotion he felt he deserved at his job, loosing the job he had, getting the snot kicked out of him, & wrecking his car all in the same 24 hours. Enough to qualify for a bad day I would say but bad enough to blame EVERYTHING on God? That's debatable, but that's exactly what Bruce chose to do. Figuratively speaking, he gave the almighty the finger. Bible readers will tell you that in all the bible, God doesn't show up in person very often but if I had the means to confront everyone who gave me the finger I would, wouldn't you? So God pays Bruce a visit & basically tells him "if you think my job is so easy, here, you do it." Initially, it was the ultimate power trip being able to have all creation yield to your every whim, but then there's the answering prayers & righting wrongs part of the job that eventually comes into play. God did do Bruce a favor in that he only gave him prayers to answer in a certain part of the city of Buffalo & if you don't do it for a day, as you might imagine, they pile up. A quick fix would be to just answer every prayer with a yes, but that causes more problems than you'd think. Imagine for a second that everyone who prayed to win the lottery actually won-a million people winning a million bucks, not much after taxes. This movie also included a love story between Jim Carrey & Jennifer Aniston, a roll that played to her strengths as well; she basically played Rachel from "Friends" but with a different job.

Story Line: I am convinced that if one were to follow Jim Carrey home, sneak outside of his window & catch him in a private moment, they could find him peeling off his skin al la "Cocoon" & see him emerge as a cartoon like in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Jim Carrey is a living cartoon, or at least the world's most animated human & his unique brand of humor is tailor made for this role. He is also reunited with the man who pretty much put him on the map, no not the director of "Earth Girls are Easy" but Tom Shadyac the man who directed Carey in "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective". For most folk you either love Jim Carey or you hate him, I haven't met any people in the middle of the road when it comes to him, but this movie has an enjoyable message & a talented cast, so if you don't feel like standing in line for "X-2" or "Matrix Reloaded", go pay homage to "Bruce Almighty".

Jim Carrey-Bruce Nolan	Morgan Freeman-God
Jennifer Aniston: Grace	Directed By-Tom Shadyac

Jim Carrey-"The Majestic" "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" "Me Myself & Irene"	Jennifer Aniston-"The Good Girl", "Rock Star", "Office Space"
Morgan Freeman-"Dreamcatcher" "Levity" "The Sum of All Fears"	Directed By-Tom Shadyac-"Dragonfly", "Patch Adams", "Liar Liar", "The Nutty Professor", "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective"