Very slight film that is almost totally carried by Carrey  although even he wears a bit

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2003)

Bruce is a reporter chasing the job of anchorman at his station. When he is passed over yet again he rages at a God who allows so many bad things to happen in his life. God decides to teach him the difficulty of his job and also the downside of giving man freewill by giving Bruce the powers of God for a short while. Initially happy with the ability to use his powers to his own benefit, Bruce quickly learns there is more to it than just magic tricks.
Having seen the trailer I assumed that this was going to be a really funny film and to it's credit, it almost manages to be for a lot of the film, but this is not so much to do with the plot as it is to do with Jim Carrey's delivery. The plot is quite lazy and it isn't clear totally what the moral of the story is  even at the end I wasn't totally sure that the film knew what point it was making  that we have the power to do miracles, that God is busy, that being God is hard, that selfishness is wrong? Well  it could be all of these as the film never nails it down. The film's best bits are where Bruce is allowed to run wild with his new powers and after this the film sags a bit as it then starts to look for something resembling a plot to try and form an ending around.
The film drops in a scene from It's A Wonderful Life, which gives you a clue as to what it is trying to be  it wants to be a warm fuzzy feelgood film too like Capra managed. It is worth noting that the classic Capra we have today were not so warmly received at time of release so perhaps that isn't too good an aspiration. It never manages to pull that off anyway as the moral is where the warmth should come form and, as I said, this bit is muddled. The film is strongest when it relies on Carrey to deliver the goods and he does.
For the vast majority of the film, Carrey's mugging saves the day and he makes the material funnier with his delivery. After a while his catch phrases wear a bit tired (`B.E.A  utiful' started to annoy me) but mostly he is funny. The funniest line in the whole thing for me was when God said `alrightie then' in the style of Ace Ventura  but I think I was alone in that as no one else in the cinema laughed. Beside Carrey the rest of the cast are mere background for him to bounce off  only his scenes with Freeman appear to share equal weight and Freeman brings a good air to the role  not trivialising the role but not allowing it to be heavy to the point of killing the film. Aniston is OK but is really just there to provide a plot for the final third of the film. Hall is solid and gives the impression of the support cast being quality in numbers.
Regardless of the fact that this film is mainly one big sketch (man gets God's powers) with a bit of a plot tacked on at the end to justify a film, it is actually quite enjoyable. If you dislike Carrey's mugging then there is very little else here for you, but his energy and delivery save the film even if he does misjudge some of his dialogue and jokes.