Talking to God

Rating: Null/10 (26 February 2004)

Warning: Possible spoilers.
It's either three strikes - you're out, or the third time's the charm; one signifies failure, the other success, and each happens often enough in life to be a clichÃ©. Bruce Almighty, the 2004 People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Motion Picture, is undeniably a charm for Jim Carrey and Tom Shadyac, whose first collaboration in 1994, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective launched Carrey's career and whose second effort produced Liar Liar, one of the biggest hits of 1997 and solidified Shadyac's role as a comedic director. A self-proclaimed born-again-Christian, Shadyac compares Bruce Almighty to a modern day parable, and although it is not his intent to impose a specifically Christian message, he does hope to plant some seeds that will provide fodder upon which he hopes the audience will chew. Most of us have times in our lives when we rail against God and ask why. Why are you doing this to me, God? What do you want from me? Why can't I have that job, that house, or that life-partner? Why aren't you helping me to get, do, or be what I want? Why don't you answer my prayer? Bruce Nolan (Carrey) asks some of these same questions himself, albeit in a much less soul-searching and much more self-serving way than did Jerry Landers (John Denver) in 1977's Oh, God! upon which Bruce Almighty heavily draws. Unlike Jerry, the honest, humble boy-next-door, Bruce does not portray the innocent everyman, but conversely, an arrogant, greedy, self-important television reporter who believes he deserves a promotion to anchor, and will do just about anything to get it-and does. Most of what he does is unashamedly sophomoric, which is exactly how Carrey's rubber-faced shtick plays best. In a nutshell, Bruce has a bad day and blames God, and in effect, challenges God to a duel. Responding to Bruce's invitation to "Smite me, oh mighty Smiter," God (Morgan Freeman) instead invites him to slip into his very own water-walkers to see if he can do better. Thus, Bruce Almighty is born, or should I say, born again. Unfortunately, Bruce reincarnated is as bad as the original. Given the power to perform miracles, Bruce enlarges his girlfriend's (Jennifer Aniston) breasts, lassos the moon for a romantic evening, and teaches his dog how to use the toilet. Moving beyond these harmless pranks, Bruce ups the ante to even some scores. The first is for die-hard Carrey fans only, and involves a monkey and the nethermost part of a smart-alecky punk. The second provided the best laugh in the picture. Bruce conducts his arch-rival's (Steve Carroll) speech causing him to sputter unintelligible nonsense for several long minutes. Some of his self-serving miracles have far-reaching consequences. Bruce causes a disturbance that not only provides him with a breaking news story, but also triggers a tidal wave on the other side of the world. He ceases the din of prayers in his head by answering yes to them all. When it backfires and he explains to God that he was only giving people what they want God replies, "Since when does anyone have a clue about what they want?" Finally, having been forewarned that he can't mess with free will, Grace finally sees him for the self absorbed idiot that he is and leaves him. Too late, he realizes what he has lost, and when he shares the pain of his inability to make people (Grace) love him God replies, "Welcome to my world son." Losing Grace. Now that's a theological conundrum. But no worries, Grace never really leaves Bruce, just as God's grace never leaves us. Realizing that Grace is the most important part of his life he offers a selfless prayer and Grace is restored. This film may not provoke deep theological discussion, but then it wasn't meant to. It was meant to show a relationship with a God that is as involved in our lives as God needs to be and yet who empowers us to "be the miracle" in this world ourselves. Shadyac said in an early interview that he wanted to make a movie that would cause us to think about our relationship with God and about what we do or do not believe. He wants to "touch our hearts and remind us of how precious and patient God is in His love and mercy for all of us." It didn't work for me, but perhaps it works for those who might not have gotten there any other way than a Bruce Carrey movie. God does work in mysterious ways.