Guest Review by Joe
Warning: contains spoilers (as if you care)
Every so often, a movie comes out that defines a generation and is considered a true landmark of cinematic history. Such movies permeate culture itself, and even those who haven't seen this movie are at least passingly familiar with what it's about. Bruce Almighty is not one of these movies. In fact, I don't think Jim Carrey is capable of putting out that kind of movie.
When I first saw the trailers, my mind screamed "Danger, Will Robinson!" Jim Carrey dealing with the divine will probably be blasphemous, religiously insensitive and one lame gag after another. In other words, he'll act like a bleepin' idiot with lots of special effects and cheap bathroom laughs. Somehow, I was partially off the mark.
This movie is divided into 3 basic sections: the first introduces Carrey's character (a burned-out TV "human interest" reporter who aspires to something greater: the anchor desk), his sort-of religious girlfriend (played by Jennifer Anniston), his rival at the TV station, the buxom brunette co-anchor at the TV station (played by Catherine Bell) and several other characters. Anyway, this first segments culminates in Carrey meeting God (Morgan Freeman) and being imbued with God's powers.
The second section is Carrey experimenting with said powers, working silly miracles and basically adding lots of filler to the trailer. It is here that the cheap gags can be found. A couple parts were actually funny, but it was mostly Carrey being himself. Predictably, Carrey uses his power to frustrate his nemesis and make his own life cushy and advance his career. What becomes more and more apparent, though, is that as he advances his own life, his girlfriend is becoming more and more frustrated because he's not seeing to her needs (speak: he hasn't proposed to her.) Finally, Carrey gets the anchor job and goes off to celebrate with his co-workers. It's at this moment that Catherine Bell's character comes on to Carrey's, which culminates at a kiss just as Jennifer Anniston walks in (bet ya couldn't see THAT one coming!) Anyway, predictably, Anniston walks out, declaring the relationship to be over.
This leads us to part 3: Carrey's character "finds himself." Things start going badly for Carrey and his "miracles" are starting to have repercussions. He's realizing that being God isn't all it's cracked up to be, and he's really not happy at all. Long story short, he realizes he's screwed up and can have anything he wants except the one thing he really wants (Anniston) because he's not allowed to mess with Free Will. Anyway, cue the soul-searching, the crying in the street during the heavy rainstorm, the final meeting with God and ultimately getting her back (because she still loves him and never got over him and he realizes that she's all he wants, etc.) Of course, he gives up all his divine power and goes back to where he was at the beginning, but with a new appreciation for what he has.
From a religious/moral standpoint, I found it remarkable at how inoffensive it was at handling the whole "God" question. Fundamentalists and conservatives will doubtless have a hard time with the whole thing, but they did a good job of limiting objectionable content to Carrey's character, and only while his character was being somewhere between an atheist and Homer Simpson. Morgan Freeman's performance as God was actually pretty good. I don't want to say that anyone can capture the essence of the divine, but he managed to avoid any major incidents: if you can get past the notion of someone acting as God, you'll be fine with that part.
The second thing was that this movie was predictable. Very predictable. Within the first 15 minutes you can tell where it's going and where it's going to end up. There were a few, umm, I wouldn't call them so much "plot twists" as "plot minor bends" but you can see the end pretty clearly from the beginning. There really wasn't much in the suspense department at all.
The final point marks something of a departure for Carrey: in spite of his loony (childish?) antics and other Carrey-isms, the REAL core of the story goes like this: Guy has girlfriend. Guy acts like jerk. Girlfriend is patient, loving and caring, and getting fed up with it. Guy gets money/power/something and becomes even more of a jerk. Girlfriend becomes misunderstood because she loves him for who he is, not his money/power/something. Guy is caught in compromising position with other woman. Girl leaves guy. Guy realizes he's a choad and still loves girl. Something major happens. Girl and guy get back together. Girl and guy get engaged/married/recommitted/something. Cue end credits. In short, this was not a comedy so much as a romantic comedy. As in "chick flick." To me, that was the true shocker, since it didn't contain Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant or Billy Crystal (in a non-Princess Bride role.) I shoulda seen it with Anniston, but I thought she might be able to do straight comedy.