Bruce Almighty (Full Screen Edition)

Customer reviews:

God Is Black? No, He's Morgan Freeman, 2008-12-14
I remember when I first watched Bruce Almighty about 3 years ago and I absolutely hated it. The way people raved on about how funny it was just didn't fly with me at all, I labelled it one of Carreys worst films and vowed never to watch it again. Fast forward 3 years and I'm in a New York hotel room, forced to stay in thanks to the blistering cold, and what's on TV? Why Bruce Almighty, thanks for asking. I decide to cancel that vow and just watch it again for good measure to cement my previous hatred. I was wrong, there I said it, I... Was... Wrong. It's difficult to say yes, but upon seeing this for the second time, for some unknown reason I absolutely loved it and have wondered since why I hated it so.

Jim Carrey plays Bruce, a small time news reporter known and loved for his comedic and light hearted persona which is ironically holding him back in his career. Nothing ever seems to go right for Bruce and he's constantly complaining that God has forgotten about him and is dealing him the wrong hand. After a day in which his arch rival Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) steals Bruce's desired job as news anchor, he goes nuts and gets himself fired from the station. That night Bruce argues with his girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston) and leave the apartment leading to a crash. Upon getting out the car he gets a page with an address on it. The next day he visits the address and is confronted by a Janitor in the guise of Morgan Freeman. This janitor claims he is god and is going to take a break leaving Bruce in charge to see if he can do a better job. Over the course of the film, Bruce uses his newly obtained powers to get back at those who wronged him and fixes his life. He soon forgets, however, that he's now god so he must take care of everybodies wishes.

This film isn't the funniest in the world and seems to at times quite a religiously propagandist film. Although it doesn't point towards one particular religion, it's obviously a film promoting the existence of god and blind faith. It is that of a very emotional film more than anything and talks about love and loyalty to the one you love. It also puts out there the idea of creating your own destiny and not waiting for something to be given to you. Some of the scenes are quite ridiculous and you would have thought that a man with godly powers would have done more than give himself a flash car. Although the comedy isn't really that immediately in your face, when it does appear it certainly succeeds in giving you a wealthy chuckle. One scene in particular is when Bruce is back in his job and is behind the scenes during one of Evans news casts. Bruce uses his godly powers and has Evan mess up his entire delivery costing the man his job. The acting by Carell in this scene is hysterical and had me in tears of laughter, the awkward look on the face mixed with the silliness of his news delivery is perfect.

Jennifer Aniston also gives us an excellent performance and backs up my belief that the woman is a highly underrated actress long overdue of that one big movie. I'm sure it will come eventually, but for now we're just going to have to get the treat of her in the rare great roles. Jim Carrey and Steve Carell also play such great roles, with Jim obviously delivering some great acting once again. Morgan Freeman, I think it has to be said that it was a worthy choice for the role of God as Freeman becomes the first African American actor to play both the President of the USA and God himself. The actors and story blend together perfectly with it seeming that the roles were specifically written for the particular actors in mind.

An awesome film that even if you didn't enjoy it the first time, you certainly will the second time around.

Whining Jim Carrey gets God-like powers, 2008-10-05
Carrey plays a miserable, complaining nobody who gets incredible powers after he offers to swop places with God. Some of the scenes after this are terrific fun.

Morgan Freeman is God, and the weird thing is, he suits the role admirably!