1874

First watched on 14th February 2007 with husband, son, and a family of friends. Yes, Valentine's Day, but we thought we'd stay in and watch a DVD.

The film explores an interesting idea - someone takes over being God for a week. Quite thought-provoking too, as he implements some of what he feels 'should' happen, only to discover the wider implications.

Enjoyable, on the whole.

Latest longer review: https://suesdvdreviews.blogspot.com/2019/10/bruce-almighty-jim-carrey.html ( )

God makes an asshole omnipotent.

2.5/4 (Okay).

The high concept is enough to make for a fun movie, although it's a bad fun movie. There are a couple funny gags. A lot of the attempted humor is embarrassing. ( )

The movie's a mixed bag -- as one would perhaps expect from the premise. As is typical with any wish-fulfillment film, the so-called problems the protagoist face upon getting his wish aren't really problems at all, and could easily be fixed with the powerset he's been given. But the jokes are frequently decent, and Carrey's performance is typically charming enough to intermittently distract me from the Swiss cheese plot. Aniston's also managing to be much more lovable and charming than I could possibly expect from the very bland 2D girlfriend part she's given, and Freeman is, of course, great casting for the deity. The usually amazing Carrell, however, is utterly wasted as a workplace nemesis so forgettable I had forgotten he was even in this movie (in spite of being the star of the movie's sequel). The premise is also horribly undersold, with Carrey's privileged life not being in any way grounds for the amount of whining he does (this is of course part of the point, but it is still cringeworthily inane to look at a character who cares enough for others to defend a besieged homeless man in one scene, and then claim God has it out for _him_ in the next because he didn't get a promotion).

In the end, it is a predictable story with predictable flaws. But when the movie's not falling into the trite moralism or too encumbered by inane plotholes, it has charm and even warmth, and frequently gets a chuckle out of me. So I can't bring myself to be too hard on it. There can definitely be situations where I'd be OK with rewatching this again -- Carrey's too fun for anything else. And the film has certainly got a pleasant feel-good quality that's tough to achieve even for much more polished films with much fewer issues. ( )

Een grappig gegeven, alleen na drie jwartier nog niet gelachen, zal aan mij liggen.
Maar wacht, dat is ook niet de bedoeling van defilm, ik ga maar weer voor de inhoud.
Selfish, stupid is the way he deals with his power. I now wait for the result he 've said yes to all prayers, prayers of others could be selfish too.... ( )