Juvenile comedy, made for low brow audiences

Rating: 3/10 (22 December 2018)

Why did I hate this movie? Because it insults intelligence. Had Bruce Almighty been content to follow the well-trodden path of mindless comedies, it might have worked. After all, the scene in which Bruce embarrasses a TV anchor is genuinely funny. But director Tom Shadyac can't resist slipping into Patch Adams mode. The result is a painful final act in which Bruce learns the hard lesson that the greatest power of all is to help others. Also considering what Bruce does with God's powers, he must have an I.Q. of about 10. About a hundred good plots could have been written with this backstory - anything from a straight comedy to a tragedy, with various stops in between - but Bruce Almighty misses them all. What does Bruce do with his great powers? Use a gust of wind to flip up a woman's skirt, pull the moon closer to Earth, and move aside traffic. No stopping time. No visiting other planets. The gag of Bruce doing silly little things with his powers is amusing for about 60 seconds, then it loses its appeal.