An unholy dud

Rating: 4/10 (15 January 2004)

I'm glad I saw this movie for one reason only, and that reason is a hysterically funny scene where Bruce (Jim Carrey) uses his powers to make his rival news
anchor (Steven Carell) babble like a crazy person on the air. I laughed so hard that tears were streaming down my face during that scene -- Carell steals the show here.
I think that Carrey is truly an original genius who is capable of sublime slapstick, and also of being very good in movies that offer more, like "The Truman Show." But just about everything about this movie feels tired and labored. The TV news stuff is bad satire (except for that one great scene) because it has no relation to reality whatsoever -- it's just silly without being funny. And the movie has a very irritating musical score (very similar to "Liar, Liar") that telegraphs everything, helping to spoil what little humor there is.
Morgan Freeman hits the perfect note as God, underplaying his role nicely.
Jennifer Aniston is OK, but the role is undeserving of her talents.
Worst of all, the movie goes sickeningly sentimental toward the end.
"Groundhog Day" conveyed a somewhat similar message in a much less
cloying way. I give this 4 out of 10.