God as mainstream comedy item

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2004)

I like Jim Carrey, and consider him the big comedy star of the American screen nowadays. Yes, he does remind us Jerry Lewis, but this is a tradition that goes back even farther, to the days of the mute comedy, and I do not find this a problem - quite the contrary. 'Bruce Almighty' is a(nother) comedy about God being busy, or just tired, and relenting some of his powers to earthy creatures. The lucky winner (or victim) is the very human TV reporter played by Jim Carrey, a typical mix of egocentrism and good sentiments, as any of us is. Some of the gags are really good, and the film develops well for the first two thirds of the time. No deep philosophy, but decent morality in the clothes of good comedy. Unfortunately, in the last third the movie really goes in the very center of the mainstream, trying to make happy all the family viewers in the most fundamentalist homes. This does not help the level and impression the movie makes as a whole. Jim Carrey is good as always, Jennifer Aniston prepares her post-Friends career and may catch soon the place that Meg Ryan just left free as the US cinema sweetie of the decade. My grade for this film is also 2/3 - or 7 out of 10 on my personal scale.