With great power comes great responsibility.

Rating: 6/10 (3 January 2008)

If Tears for Fears' 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' hadn't already been used in Adam Sandler's 2006's comedy 'Click'; then I might have been forever associating that piece of music to this; Bruce Almighty, which apart from being one of lead actor Jim Carrey's best films; also doubles up as director Tom Shadyac's best from what I've seen. Bruce Almighty is a film with a heart; with a true heart. Its idea is that of one where the hero, who is of course down and out, would get the opportunity to play God but it isn't a film that merely gives Carrey an excuse to act stupid in a manner that may have anyone under the age of sixteen laughing but the rest of us cringing; oh no, it's something a little more than that.
From very early on, it would seem both Carrey and Shadyac are harking back to their old ways. There is a massive billboard advertising Bruce Nolan (Carrey) half way through the film which is a promotional photo from Liar, Liar from what I've read; Bruce also references Ace Ventura with the 'Hi-Ho Away Silver!' quote and you could well change 'allrighty-then!' into 'Almighty-then!' But there are deeper things than that. The set up revolves around one man and his tragedy in a way reminiscent to 1994 Carrey master class The Mask and like The Mask, Carrey's character is given superhuman powers which enables him to turn his life around from zero to hero as well as help out other people now and again. But whilst The Mask was a little lagging in its narrative what with its clichéd mobsters and so forth, Bruce Almighty makes up for in heart and realism. At a time when so many big budget films are being made and distributed, it is great to see a film like this not take advantage of its budget. The film's idea of God is not a spectacular vision of light, CGI effects and so forth but in the form of Morgan Freeman; himself chipping in with references to his previous work: "You'll need room se7en on the se7enth floor" he quips. Heaven as a filmic space is fascinating to look into and parallels with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure spring to mind but the film's idea of heaven is not this vast, expansive space with people entering all the time but this tiny office floor inhabited by nothing and nobody bar Nolan and God himself.
It would seem strange of me to say so, but the film acts better as a character study of one man; not a comedy. It's now apparent that Carrey can play the serious role what with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but here, he is breaking through into that 'serious' mould by taking on a subject matter and certain characters in their own psychological jeopardy whilst mastering basic one-liner comedy and giving us a performance; this is why you could argue that this is Carrey's best film over the likes of The Cable Guy and the Ace Ventura films: he begins one person, progresses and finishes someone else. The Mask did this on a basic level but much of that was on a far, far higher comic level. Another subject the film tackles with relative ease is the topic of God himself. Whilst maintaining the perhaps outdated theory that God is both male and inhabits a white beard; people will be quick to point out God is indeed black. Some interesting points arise here; namely the fact we have to assume Freeman is playing the Christian God and not Allah; a Roman God or anything else. Secondly, notice how things such as the slave trade in centuries gone by have perhaps been overlooked: if God really is black, how does he justify how black people have been portrayed and used throughout history? It's interesting to note that the gang of thugs featured were of the Hispanic variety but whether what has anything to do with anything remains too ambiguous to comment on; as do the multiple theories behind casting Morgan Freeman.
Due to my feelings on having this film labelled a comedy; which I feel is wrong, I think it fails at certain times when it tires to be funny. Carrey is of course his usual smart, fast and quirky self who cracks a couple of jokes and attempts to make us laugh but how much of it was scripted? Did Carrey make a few additions in the process? Because it isn't as hilarious as it would've been had actual writers spent time to come up with material. Consequently, the scripted humour comes in the form of Nolan and Grace's (Aniston) pet dog constantly peeing on the furniture as they pick him up and carry him outside: genitalia and urine in clear view  not funny. Also, Nolan's telepathic foreplay with Grace through the walls gives us a crude inside look of what it's like to make love as a 'God' but it isn't funny and feels very out of place in the film as it acts as an excuse to produce meek, juvenile laughs  as does the urinating dog re-occurring joke.
I think that with humour aside, Bruce Almighty works as an inventive and challenging film with a heart at is centre built on a great premise. The humour in the form of Bruce using his powers to win Grace back after certain events was weak as was the way the film stopped for that entire segment. But the film has some fantastic ideas and some interesting moments that have you laughing at the inventiveness rather than the jokes. A clever and thought provoking film but don't expect to laugh too much.