User reviews

I really do not know what people have against this film, but it's definitely one of my favourites. It's not preachy, it's not anchored by it's moral, it shouldn't be controversial. It's just God. Any possible God, no matter the religion. And it's really funny.

Jim Carry plays Bruce Nolan, a TV reporter usually stuck on the lighter side of the news, desperate to prove himself (more or less TO himself) that he can be taken seriously and do a good job in an anchor job. This drive is what is slowly driving his beautiful girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston) away. When the final straws are executed, he's quick to not laugh, but yell in the face of God, who in turn gives Bruce his powers. Bruce then makes his life better for himself, until he's guilted into helping others, where he then continues to miss the point of his powers. Meanwhile, his constant excitement about his own life makes him more selfish, leaving his relationship on dangerous ground.

OK, that was kinda long. But as a plot, it works well. The step-by-step fashion in which we meet the challenges of being God is much better than clustering his problems together, and is able to hide itself fairly well.

As you probably know from hearing about this movie in the first place, Carrey's pitch-perfect acting stays in character (which, luckily enough, is him), and controls and gives atmosphere to the movie scene by scene. Whether they would admit it or not, the role was written or rewritten exclusively for Carrey. Without him, the humour would turn flat, as humour is half execution. And the humour is very good in the first place. But without Carrey, it would kinda feel like a It's a Wonderful Life wannabe.

Jennifer Aniston is great and, no matter what some may say, does not act like the only excuse for the third act. At least, you don't think that when you see her. She gives a heartfelt performance and makes you forget you're watching a movie, she and Carrey feel very much like a real couple.

The movie feels ggooooodd (see the movie to understand), has a very nice feeling, tackles the idea appropriately and better than expected and overall should never have been called slapped together just to save Carrey's career (which wasn't goin' anywhere.).

Discontented television reporter Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey), on his worst day of his life, rages against God. He responds by appearing in human form (Morgan Freeman) and gives Bruce divine powers, challenging him to take on the big job of being the Almighty.

As the divine-powered Nolan using his new gift, it is actually very hilarious to see him playing tricks on people that annoy him in his life, including the sidesplitting scene where he makes rival reporter Evan Baxter blunder big time on live TV. Makes me wish I have some special powers to counter some of the people that annoyed me to no end.

The film's story also proves that it is not a walk-in-the-park to serve in God's shoes, as he has to listen to all the voices of the people's prayers around him and see what chaotic things actually happen when all people get what they wish for. I think this is cleverly depicted in this movie's solid plot.

Overall, this is one of the better Jim Carrey comedies I've seen, where he is funny, but doesn't go overboard with the slapstick and silliness. Mixing in the humor with some doses of drama, you'll get quite an entertaining movie.

Grade B

Now either you like Mr Carrey's humour or you don't. Me, Myself and Irene had audiences both walking out in droves and, on the other hand, cheering and collapsing in puddles of mirth. Bruce Almighty is a bit more mainstream, but you have been warned.

If you're not sure, watch the trailer. I saw the trailer three times and still laughed at the same gags when I saw the film. If you don't find the sight of a dog putting the seat down after using the loo funny, don't bother with the movie.

Carrey, a reporter stuck in a rut covering 'lighter news' berates God when the whole of his life seems to be going to pot. God takes up the challenge and asks Carrey if he can do better. Carrey gets into the swing of having all of God's powers by making his girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston)'s breasts bigger, getting himself promoted, and answering everyone's prayers by single stroke computer commands.

This is not a highbrow movie or even that memorable, but it is very well made within it's very limited intent, provides almost continuous laughs to Carrey fans, and even any religious cheesiness is likely to be inoffensive to all but the most narrow-minded god-squadders and anti-god-squadders.

On the more thoughtful level, the film tempts us to speculate about Carrey's own career - stuck in his 'comedy' typecasting he has largely failed to make an impression as a serious actor even after winning two Golden Globes. His most accomplished 'straight' role, the Man on the Moon, is less well known that his comedy romps - or The Truman Show (on which the Academy heaped three nominations whilst bypassing Carrey).

Broad, amusing, and well-intended comic fantasy about an ambitious Buffalo reporter who hates his job and dreams of becoming a news anchor. After suffering from some hard luck, the jaded reporter directs his anger toward God whom he feels is ignoring him completely, at least until he has an unexpected celestial encounter that endows him with divine powers that allow him to see the truth. Well-crafted comedy does suffer from occasional lapses due to conventional story elements, but it's good-natured and consistently laugh-out loud funny, with some terrific sight gags, clever ideas, along with a perfect part for Carrey who makes a welcomed return to the kind of silliness that made him a star. ***

Morgan Freeman Jim Carry That's it, that's my review.

Bruce Almighty is a decent movie. It is no masterpiece, but it is still entertaining, is well performed and has a sense of fun. The reason why I don't think is a masterpiece is mainly because of various factors it didn't quite convince as much as it should have done.

The movie has a good soundtrack, and a great premise. The performances are what made the movie as entertaining as it was, with Jim Carrey in his usual over the top performance pitch-perfect as Bruce Nolan and Jennifer Aniston as lovely as ever as Grace. Steve Carrell has his moments as Evan Baxter. The real acting kudos though has to go to Morgan Freeman, who is such an exceptional actor who rarely disappoints in anything he's in, and he was great as God. There are as I have said some hilarious moments, the news station scenes were particularly hysterical.

However, there are some problems that marred an otherwise decent movie. The middle act is rather slow moving and not very much of interest happens sadly. I also found it rather short for a comedy, if it were fifteen minutes or so longer it could have had more scenes to develop the characters and story more. And while on the whole the movie worked there are parts in the script that are overdone.

On the whole, despite being disappointingly uneven, it is a fun and decent comedy, that is well performed and has a nice message. Plus the ending is a tear jerker. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Bruce Almighty" looks and sounds incredibly stupid, especially from the trailers. Nevertheless, I found in it a deeper message that actually made me like this film more. Bruce (Jim Carrey) is angry at God and is given divine powers by him to be God for a week to see if he can do a better job. Morgan Freeman plays a man symbolized here as God, and though it isn't his usual type of film or one of his best roles, he does excellent with what he is given to work with. Although crude at times, the film does have quite a few laughs, from Bruce parting his soup in half like the Red Sea and the customers' reactions to him, as well as Freeman's seemingly laid-back and wisecracking image of God. It is overly exaggerated at times, and there is some crude humor, but overall it manages to be somewhat funny. There is a decent supporting cast, such as Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Ann Walter, and Steve Carrell, which always helps. The end of the film proves to be very romantic and tear-jerking, and the message is clear, that we should do what God has called us to do and "be the miracle." The film is far from perfect, but still enjoyable, and far better than I and many people probably would have expected, especially if we see the deeper message of the film.

*** out of ****

Jim Carrey is back to much the same role that he played in The Mask, a timid guy who is trying to get ahead in the world but who seems to be plagued with bad luck. Even when he tries to help a homeless guy from being harassed by a bunch of hoodlums (and of course they have to be Mexican, obviously), his good will towards his fellow man backfires. In that case, it wasn't too hard to predict that he was about to have a handful of angry hoodlums, but I like that the movie suggests that things like that shouldn't be ignored. I'm reminded of the episode of Michael Moore's brilliant The Awful Truth, when they had a man lay down on the sidewalk and pretend to be dead and see who would actually stop and make sure he was okay. The results were not very promising, so it's nice to see someone in the movies setting a good example.

Jim Carrey plays the part of Bruce Nolan, the nice guy mentioned above whose entire life seems to be falling apart. Or even better, it seems to be breaking up by the blows of bad luck like an asteroid entering the atmosphere (a little metaphor that comes up when Bruce miraculously finds himself a gigantic news story later in the film). Bruce is nearly 40 years old and all he has to show for it is a position as a news reporter of the sort that reports on such exciting news as the local bakery that's seeking to bake the world's biggest cookie. He's desperate to obtain the job of head anchor at the TV station, but he loses his cool on live TV when he hears that the job went to his rival colleague. You have to love how they time the revelation of this news to him seconds before his first live report. Needless to say, he loses his temper on live TV in one of the funniest scenes of the entire film.

Morgan Freeman delivers a fantastic performance as the Man himself, displaying a God whose infinite wisdom is somewhat reflected through Freeman's massive talent as an actor. He is the kind of God who takes his job very seriously, but in such a way as to advise his followers (as well as the viewers of this movie) that there are times when you need to slow down and do some manual labor in life. I love his line that some of the happiest people in the world come home smelling to high heaven at the end of the day. There are a lot of people in the world (maybe more than our share in America) who are so absorbed by their money and their possessions and their jobs and everything that they completely lost touch with the natural side of themselves as humans.

One of the biggest strengths is that the movie is able to provide great advice to people in general about improving their lives, and this message is clear and acceptable regardless of the viewer's religion. I, for example, tend to reject organized religion in all forms and I see God and Satan to be metaphors for different aspects of nature and human psychology rather than actual figures who ever lived or continue to live. But despite the fact that I don't believe that God exists as an entity overseeing the universe or as a janitor dressed all in white who mops the floors of his downtown office in his spare time, I was able to appreciate the messages that were delivered in this movie.

Jim Carrey's movies display this fantastic evolution that ties them all together and makes the newer ones look even better just because you can see how far he's come. If you compare Bruce Almighty with movies like Ace Ventura (both of which I loved, by the way) or a lot of what he did before he got into film, it's amazing how far he's come. He has moved from cheesy TV comedy to cheesy comedic films to comedies that are truly intelligent and meaningful like this film as well as others like The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, and The Majestic (easily one of his greatest films ever). Jim Carrey has unmistakably moved from the cheesy comedy of his past to become one of the most important comic actors working today.

Jennifer Aniston also once again provides an excellent addition to the movie (as she did in the side-splitting Office Space) as Bruce's girlfriend, who becomes increasingly exasperated by Bruce's growing stress about his life as well as his negligence to ask her to marry him. There is definitely some low-brow comedy in the film that doesn't really fit with the importance of the film's meaning or the quality of the delivery, such as the dog reading the newspaper on the toilet and the whole monkey scene, but it was definitely pretty nice to see Ace Ventura's friend Spike make a cameo appearance. As Stephen King very well knows, it's always nice to see familiar characters. It's almost like seeing family again.

Bruce is endowed with the powers of God for a given period of time so that he can understand life a bit better, and he says a lot about himself when he uses the powers only for his own purposes rather than to help all of the people who pray to him. The thing I love about this is that, like I said before, religion is absent from my life, but I was able to watch this and learn a lot about myself as well by thinking about what kinds of things I would have done had I been endowed with such powers. The movie allows us to learn vicariously this way, which empowers the message even more.

The scenes that involve the news station are easily the funniest in the entire film, such as the scene when Bruce loses his temper about the anchor position, the Jimmy Hoffa scene (who was conveniently buried with an original birth certificate and a complete set of dental records), the scene where Bruce's rival colleague is made to go nuts on camera, and my favorites, the ones at the beginning and the end involving the local bakery's cooking. The movie has plenty of time for Carrey to deliver some excellent jokes, such as when he says to God (who reveals that he's the janitor, the proprietor, the electrician, etc) that his Christmas parties must be real bashes, and to be careful about drinking, because on of him might need a ride home! I also loved the end when he says that behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. A little too true, and as Gallagher would add, behind every great man is also an amazed mother-in-law.

Bruce Almighty is one of the more memorable comedies to have come out for quite a while, and is probably the only directly religious that I can remember seeing that I am anxious to buy on DVD to add to my personal collection. It is a comedy written and performed in good taste, but with enough relatively low-brow humor to keep the kids entertained. This is a meaningful comedy for the whole family, which is becoming rarer and rarer these days. In a world that is about to be flogged with yet another American Pie film AND another Scary Movie (which are only scary because of their sheer barbarous idiocy), it's nice to see that there are still people making comedies worth watching. Don't miss this one.

If You are a huge Jim Carey fan, You might like this, but all in all it´s pretty useless film. Plot is very thin and just not funny. I have to admit that Carey is quite hilarious and I guess the producers know it too. It seems that no one cares about what kind of films they make if they only have him in it. The Whole film rests only on his funny faces, which we have seen already in all the previous movies he has made.

Starring: Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Anniston I was really quite skeptical the first time I watched this movie. I mean, what a conceptual NIGHTMARE. Jim Carrey playing God? Nothing is sacred anymore.

Well, this movie is hardly sacred, but it also is not sacrilegious, at least not to any great extent. Yes, Jim Carrey has the powers of God for a while, but he is not God. Confused? I'll give you the low down.

Jim Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a reporter who is down on his luck and feeling very unsuccessful with his life. He lives with his beautiful girlfriend, Grace (Anniston), and you can tell right off the bat that they love each other, but the relationship is on fairly shaky ground.

Then Bruce gets a shot at anchorman, only to have it underhandedly stolen by Evan Baxter. Obviously not please, Bruce shares his thoughts with the world through the television in a way which is comical and definitely worthy of getting him fired.

Much complaining and griping about God later, Bruce gets a page. After a while he gets tired of it calling, so he responds and goes to the Omni Presents building (heh). There he meets God (Freeman), who is the Boss, Electrician, and Janitor of the building. I found this highly amusing. God is the Boss, the Holy Spirit is the Electrician, and Jesus Christ is the Janitor. Think about it. Boss, obvious. Electrician, the guy who keeps everything running. Janitor, the guy who cleans up the mess that the world has left. BRILLIANT.

Anyway, Bruce is a little skeptical about having actually met God, but when God gives Bruce his powers and gives him a shot at playing God, he starts to believe a bit. Wonder why. Enter the flagrant abuse of powers for personal gain and to abuse the enemies.

Since this is Hollywood, Bruce obviously eventually smartens up, learns his lesson, and starts using his powers for the good of the world. In the end he cries out for God to take it away and prays that His will be done, not Bruce's.

Since it is Jim Carrey, the movie is quite amusing, and there are definitely some highly entertaining moments in it. The movie is not perfect theology, but for Hollywood, it is definitely a good attempt. Many statements in the film can be quite thought provoking and even challenging, and I applaud Tom Shadyac for his effort in this movie.

So, while far from perfect, definitely an amusing popcorn movie with a little bit of thought behind it.

Bottom Line: 3.5 out of 4 (worth a view or two)

Okay, I won't keep it a secret. I am not a fan of Jim Carey and think most of his films are designed for a very undiscerning audience (especially teens). Subtle, they are NOT! However, I did mildly like BRUCE ALMIGHTY--mostly because Carey's usual ranting and raving is under some control. This still isn't Masterpiece Theater, but it's a far cry from DUMB AND DUMBER or ACE VENTURA!! I think what I liked best about the film (other than restraining Carey) was that this film had an actual plot and a message--and surprisingly enough, one that probably WON'T offend most religious people despite its premise. Bruce is a self-centered jerk who tends to blame God for his problems instead of looking at his own contributions to his predicaments. Again and again, he says it's all God's fault that his life is a mess. Apparently, God has a sense of humor and approaches Bruce with a proposition--"if you can do better then the job is yours!" As an almighty deity, Bruce does not do that many funny things that you probably didn't see in the film's previews a few years back. But, he does learn a valuable lesson and the film is pretty entertaining, though slight in its aspirations. A very good time-passer, but not as interesting or having lasting appeal like THE TRUMAN SHOW.

This movie rest in the shoulders of Jim Carrey. There is almost literally nothing more. We see a bit of his life before getting "God's powers" and then the adventure and predictable tale about "thinking well what you wish for", basically. Carrey is not "The Mask" or "Ace Ventura" level of obnoxious, so the movie flows well with mostly dumb jokes, some better than others, and a bunch of actual real written jokes too. Jennifer Anniston is there. It doesn't matter. Steve Carrell has a criminal ultra small role, but he's the best part of the movie regardless. It's a fine comedy with not much more to it than a predictable but well done message

Whether or not a person believes in God, most people have thought they could make things better if they ran the world. Some would end world hunger, some would make world peace, and other would just fix the problems in their own lives. But few people would ever consider the burden and awesome responsibility of the universe's most absolute power. How would prayers be answered? How would you handle disasters and riots? What would you do if someone did not believe in you? `Bruce Almighty' presents a view of what would happen if a man's will were done. Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a field reporter for the local Buffalo, NY news station. Tired of doing human-interest stories, being passed over for promotions, and the overall course his life has taken, he calls out God (Morgan Freeman) and claims he can make things better if he ran the world. God hears Bruce's challenge and offers him the chance to prove it. The Almighty departs for a vacation and endows Bruce with all his powers. Bruce now has the opportunity to demonstrate what kind of God he can be. The only provisions are that Bruce cannot tell anyone he is God and he cannot interfere with anyone's free will. `Bruce Almighty' is wonderfully done by the talents of creative director Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Patch Adams) and the humorous story by screenwriter Steve Koren (Night at the `Roxbury) and television writer Mark O'Keefe (Late Show with David Letterman). Shadyac's direction plays a key role to this visually comedic movie. Not solely relying on his performers, he also implements several sight gags. Shadyac's eye for comedy comes through when he shows how Bruce organizes his prayer requests, how Bruce dispenses justice, and even when Bruce gets a cup of coffee. The script is also well written by the comedic duo of Koren and O'Keefe. The movie is not only funny but it also looks at the seriousness of what it really means to be God. Koren and O'Keefe examine how would an average Joe handle the millions of daily prayer requests, would that person abuse his power, and would he ever give up the job. Don't get me wrong, this is not a movie to would take your children to see to teach them religion. It is filled with teen and adult humor that fans have come to expect from this genre. Koren and O'Keefe not only manage to keep the theatre laughing but give God a human face. Jim Carrey gives another great performance as Bruce Nolan. Known for his way out antics and facial expressions, Carrey combines those talents with a genuine acting ability that sells his performance. Carrey is very much the common man in his role as Bruce. He is frustrated with the morning traffic, he wants more in life, and he wants God to make it happen. Most audiences can identify with his aggravation because most have been where Bruce has been. But Carrey is also a hilarious man-God when he rules the world. He has fun with his powers while making sure the best things work out for him. Carrey delivers just the right mix of comedy with a touch of the Spirit. Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Aniston are also enjoyable in their roles as God and Bruce's girlfriend, Grace, respectively. Freeman plays God with a humanistic yet sympathetic quality. He not only offers Bruce the chance to take his job, but also is ready to help him out when he runs into trouble or needs advice. Freeman's portrayal is also what one would expect out of God: warm, endearing, and forgiving. Aniston's screen time is somewhat limited in the film. Her performance of Grace is the typical stand-by-your-man girlfriend. She loves Bruce and will stick with him no matter how much of a jerk he can be. The role is generic but Aniston plays well with what she's dealt. Perhaps the scene-stealer of the film is the sidesplitting job done by the Daily Show's Steve Carell. Carell plays Bruce's main antagonist, Evan Baxter. Baxter and Nolan's on-going feud sets the stage for very funny on-air showdown in which Carell's performance will have audiences wiping their eyes from laughter. `Bruce Almighty' is no doubt entertaining and humorous. The movie has all the combinations to make it a success and audiences looking for a good laugh will not be disappointed. While the movie may be more popular with the teen crowd, adults may also enjoy the film as well. This is not a Jim Carrey comedy where he talks from his rear but a comedy that also examines a serious nature of life and show's Carrey has evolved as an actor. But let us hope for Jim's case, God doth have a sense of humor.

Grade: B

This is an above average comedy movie. But Jim Carrey took it it above from there.

Morgan freeman as God makes it more delicious.

This movie really came out at the perfect time to win me over. Back in the glory days of '03 I was still pretty darn religious and I grew up loving the rubber faced antics of Carrey so this movie had my number from the get go. Now, almost 20 yea- Good lord, it's been almost 20 years. Anyhow, watching it now I still find it pretty funny. Carrey is great and he's surrounded by a serious cast of talented people. Where this one has waned for me is in the serious moments. It's gets a little too dramatic, a little too religious at points and watching it now, it feels awkward.

Still, solid comedy with some really great bits and quotable material that I have used since it came out. Solid recommend here. Worth a rent at least if you're not sure but if you're a fan of anyone in the cast list then I'd say it's worth buying.

Fans of Jim Carrey can't go wrong with this fun filled picture that's not without serious undertones as well.

The Premise is flimsy as such, Carrey plays Nolan, a harried and fed up TV reporter who feels that all of his problems are God's fault. Having enough of his whingeing, God (Morgan Freeman) summons Nolan to his "residence" and bestows all his powers to him. This is where the film hits its stride, the makers letting Carrey loose for a number of funny sequences as he plays God to further his own ends.

It goes where you expect it to, and nobody else gets a look in as Carrey does his stuff, but the journey is a most pleasant one. 7/10

Jim Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck Buffalo TV reporter for whom things just never seem to go right. Soon after we meet him Bruce is passed over for the big promotion to the anchor desk. He reacts...poorly. And gets himself fired. Who does Bruce blame for this latest misfortune? God. Well, God isn't going to take that lying down. God summons Bruce to an empty warehouse. Hey, if you're God where else would you rather hang out than an empty warehouse in Buffalo? Anyhow Bruce doesn't particularly believe the strange man he meets in the warehouse is God. But God has his ways of convincing Bruce. Turns out God is a bit of a showoff when it comes to using his powers. And now he is going to give those powers to Bruce. If Bruce thought God was doing a bad job well here's his chance to prove he can do it better.

So being given all of God's powers seems like a pretty good deal. And Bruce wastes no time putting those powers to good use. He is able to impress his girlfriend in all sorts of ways. He's able to sabotage his rival and get that anchor job he so coveted. He's even able to get his dog to stop peeing on the furniture. All well and good but all these things he's doing are just for his own personal benefit. When you're God you have to look out for everyone. There are a lot of prayers out there waiting to be answered. Bruce is more than a tad overwhelmed and inevitably he makes a mess of things. And that mess extends to his personal life. Issues with the girlfriend arise. Well that's easy to solve when you're God, just snap your fingers and make her love you again right? Nope, not even God can mess with free will. Turns out being God is no fun if you've lost the love of your life.

As with any Jim Carrey comedy there are plenty of antics from the star. Nothing over-the-top though. And, it must be said, nothing that's really outrageously funny either. This is an amusing movie but not a hilarious one. But what it may lack in huge laughs it makes up for with charm. Carrey is very endearing. Jennifer Aniston does well with the role of Bruce's girlfriend, Grace. Aniston doesn't get many chances to showcase her comedy chops, those moments are pretty much reserved for Carrey. But she's so charming, eminently lovable. And Morgan Freeman is the perfect God. Sly, witty, but with the sense of authority required of someone who is, you know, God. Maybe Bruce Almighty could have been just a touch funnier. Maybe the movie lays it on a bit thick with its efforts to show that Bruce has really learned something. Most people aren't looking for life lessons with their comedy. But the movie does have significant charms. Bruce Nolan is a guy worth rooting for. The love he has with Grace is worth fighting for. And his attempts to play God are worth enough laughs to enable this movie to succeed.

Last night I saw an advance screening of Bruce Almighty and I'm still unsure of my thoughts on the film. The film does have some funny moments but a lot of the jokes are best seen in the trailer. Tom Shadyac, who previously teamed with Jim Carrey for Liar, Liar and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective direction is good as always and Shadyac knows the comedy genre very well. But it seems like in the editing the decided to go back and make the film a little kid friendly. But alas the message in the movie is good and Morgan Freemen and Jennifer Aniston give great supporting perofmances. So my final thoughts on the film are it's a decent movie.

If you want a serious laugh pain, watch this movie, and the things Bruce inflicts on his fellow newscaster. The deleted scenes are priceless. I don't know why they didn't include them in the original movie. It can't be because of time, since the movie is only 101 minutes long. Morgan Freeman is a brilliant actor, who has been overlooked for too long. Jim Carrey needs meds!

"Bruce Almighty" is a lot like Jim Carrey's other projects. Which isn't to say it isn't funny, but it is quite recycled and doesn't pun some of the things it could and should have. Now don't get me wrong, it is anything but boring, and anything but unfunny...but it is a lot like his other projects. A funny down-on-his-luck loser ("Dumb and Dumber") gets a supernatural power ("The Mask"), and in the end wins back the girl ("Ace Ventura") and makes a good name for himself ("Me, Myself and Irene").

But in the same context, it is more clever and thought-provoking than his other projects.

Jim Carrey plays Bruce, a generally happy, soon-to-be-married man who desperately wants to be a news reporter. Unfortunately, he ends up being fired from his job, and when this happens, he curses God. The next day his pager beeps, and Bruce calls up the number. He is given instructions on where to drive to. He follows them and ends up finding God's temporary headquarters.

God is a black man (Morgan Freeman) surprisingly enough. I like Morgan Freeman, so I won't get into the racial technicalities. Anyway, God gives Bruce his powers for one week to see how well he can handle being the master of the earth, and immediately afterwards Bruce finds he has more than odd capabilities.

However, much is the case with most things, Bruce finds his world also shaken by his newfound powers. He has to answer prayers, for one thing, and his relationship with Grace (Jennifer Aniston) starts to suffer due to his ever-growing greed. In the end, Bruce starts to realize it's not so easy being God.

"Bruce Almighty" is a very engaging, sweet, and harmless film, but like I said before, it is so much like Jim Carrey's other films that he seems to be making an Adam Sandler mould out of his career. One of the things I liked so much about "Groundhog Day" was how it showed what your average Joe would do given the power to repeat one day over and over and over again. "Bruce Almighty" has a very interesting and original plot, something uncommon for a comedy these days, but it unfortunately doesn't show Bruce using his newfound powers as much as he could have.

But regardless, the scenes where Bruce is experimenting not only entertain you, but actually make the time fly by. I really enjoyed this movie. It isn't exactly as great as it could have been, but I don't think that was the intention. Learning from their mistakes on "The Majestic," Jim Carrey (and "Bruce Almighty's" filmmakers) achieved their goal of making a thoroughly entertaining, if somewhat repetitive film that doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't: A Jim Carrey movie. Yes, they could have made something more interesting, dramatic, serious and hilarious, but I don't think that's what the Jim Carrey audiences want, and I think that the filmmakers are smart, in a way, for paying attention to this.

4/5 stars -

John Ulmer

Well, was Morgan Freeman any more unusual as God than George Burns? This film sure was better than that bore, "Oh, God". I was totally engrossed and LMAO all the way through. Carrey was perfect as the out of sorts anchorman wannabe, and Aniston carried off her part as the frustrated girlfriend in her usual well played performance. I, for one, don't consider her to be either ugly or untalented. I think my favorite scene was when Carrey opened up the file cabinet thinking it could never hold his life history. See if you can spot the file in the cabinet that holds the events of his bathroom humor: I was rolling over this one. Well written and even better played out, this comedy will go down as one of this funnyman's best.

What if we are god..!! It tries to answer from god persceptive...really i got intersted to watch and jim carrey performed well..

This movie really ought to have been funnier. It's not that it's a great premise - it's pretty daft, actually - but it's a workable premise. You've got Carrey with ultimate power, which offers all sorts of opportunities for humor. Yet the film rarely made it above mildly amusing and often couldn't even manage that. I think much of the problem was the movie was torn between wanting to be funny versus wanting to be touching and profound (since they throw in a scene from It's a Wonderful Life I tend to suspect they were hoping for something with that feel). The end result is a movie that fails to succeed comedically or emotionally. Bruce is not an especially sympathetic character, he's so petty and self centered that it's hard to take much of an interest in his problems or his life or his decisions. I thought Freeman made a pretty decent Lord Almighty and the bits with the dog were cute, and it wasn't so bad that I gave up on it, but it's really a movie where you just wonder, why did they even bother making this?