Funny but sappy

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2004)

There are three Jim Carreys. There is the insane Jim Carrey, who starred as Ace Ventura and got `Dumb and Dumber'. There is the serious actor Carrey, who headlined `The Truman Show', `Man on the Moon', and `The Majestic'. And then there is the blended Carrey, where he takes a little of both and winds up with films like `The Mask', `Me, Myself, and Irene', and especially `Liar Liar'. All three Jim Carreys can be great, and all three Jim Carreys can be awful. `Bruce Almighty' lets Carrey blend his serious and comic sides again, and as directed by frequent collaborator and director Tom Shadyec, the duo hits more often than they miss.
Some of us handle life's big disasters smoothly but flip out if we drop a pen. Others ignore the small stuff but get overwhelmed by the big stuff. Carrey's titular Bruce lets both drag him down. Like many of us have at various ages and stages in our lives, he blames God for not doing a good job of people management. He is drowning at work, his girlfriend seems ready to call it quits, and life's traffic jams and potholes filled with water, waiting to be stepped in, surround him constantly. God, here portrayed (naturally) by Morgan Freeman, calls Bruce on his complaints and hands over His powers. Bruce now, literally, is a God.
At first, he focuses on getting even with those who have wronged him and making his girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston) fall back in love with him, ignoring the prayers of all the poor schlubs like the one he used to be. The film has kicky fun letting Bruce flex and show off his powers. But he soon realizes that he actually has to help other people, and he messes everything up even worse, sending the world into utter chaos.
Eventually life lessons are learned and the film gets sappy. There are many ways this film could have gone: Bruce using his powers to duke it out with God or having kinky adventures. But `Bruce Almighty' takes the mainstream road, and this is not an insult. It does everything it is supposed to do, and it does it well.
Carrey provides a solid center to this film, although his mugging occasionally feels forced in a way it never did in `Liar Liar'. He introduces new catchphrases: `B-e-a-utiful' and his way of saying `It's good' and stretching out the 'oo' sound as if he were the Swedish Chef. These too seem forced; Freeman underplays an `Alrighty, then', a nod to Ace Ventura, so well that most audience members miss it, and this works much better than Carrey's antics. Aniston is saddled with the girlfriend part, in which she plays with little kids, obsesses over a photo album, and reacts to Bruce Almighty's crazy stunts. But she plays the part with such warmth and genuineness that when she hits her personal crisis, we actually feel it. This part, like `The Good Girl', proves that she should have a wonderful career after `Friends' takes its final bow.
There is nothing new here. The wheel is not reinvented. But this film delivers exactly what it should: some big laughs, some good characters, and a nice day at the movies. Thank God.