The third review of the week. Just as promised. See you next week!
Bruce Almighty
Review by Jon Waterman
***
Bruce, a wacky reporter that hates life makes God angry when he claims He isn’t doing His job. So, what would God do? He gives Bruce full control over all His powers. Bruce can’t tell anyone about it, but that doesn’t really seem to be an issue as he goes around having fun and causing all sorts of craziness.
I’m going to start with the bad stuff first. Let’s talk about the music for a little bit here. Just because the movie deals with God does not mean you have to include every popular song that mentions God in the lyrics. That just got annoying. It felt like overkill, and the novelty wore off very quickly. He has God’s powers. We get it. We don’t need every damn song reminding us. It’s not funny. It’s not cute. It’s stupid.
You know what else is stupid. The catchphrases. Is there some rule I don’t know about that says every Jim Carrey (who plays Bruce, by the way, if you didn’t already know) movie has to include one or two dumb catchphrases? Here we have “B-E-A-utiful.” Yeah, I know. It makes no sense. Also, we get the cringe inducing “It’s goooooood.” I just want to punch someone in the face every time I hear that. People should lose jobs for thinking that’s a good idea. Holy crap. (Even that would be a better catchphrase.)
Now for the good. Pretty much the rest of the movie is good. The script (written by Mark O’Keefe, Steve Koren, and Steve Oedekerk) includes some great spontaneous moments mixed with some telegraphed jokes that surprisingly still work. Even though the movie is loosely religious themed, the film avoided making it preachy and never used Christianity as a crutch. The result is a remarkably good mix of visual humor (usually with the aid of special effects) and decent comedic dialogue.
The acting, in general, is done rather well (for a comedy). Jennifer Aniston may not have many (or any) good lines, but her performance completely dwarfs Carrey’s. I wish she had a bigger role. The subtle gestures in her movements and words helped to ground the way-over-the-top goofiness of Carrey. Jim seems to want to recreate some of that magic he had in “Ace Ventura” and “The Mask.” However, this is a separate character and should not be as cartoony, nor should it be so flamboyant. There are ways to convey the selfish pompous jerk attitude without going to these extremes. Also, we know he is capable of a better job, so what gives?
This movie is just an excuse to let Jim Carrey let loose like he used to. It’s an excuse to use special effects and give more abstract absurd comedy a somewhat “plausible” explanation. But, you know what? I don’t care. It was still funny, God bless it!
Bruce Almighty
Review by Jon Waterman
***
Bruce, a wacky reporter that hates life makes God angry when he claims He isn’t doing His job. So, what would God do? He gives Bruce full control over all His powers. Bruce can’t tell anyone about it, but that doesn’t really seem to be an issue as he goes around having fun and causing all sorts of craziness.
I’m going to start with the bad stuff first. Let’s talk about the music for a little bit here. Just because the movie deals with God does not mean you have to include every popular song that mentions God in the lyrics. That just got annoying. It felt like overkill, and the novelty wore off very quickly. He has God’s powers. We get it. We don’t need every damn song reminding us. It’s not funny. It’s not cute. It’s stupid.
You know what else is stupid. The catchphrases. Is there some rule I don’t know about that says every Jim Carrey (who plays Bruce, by the way, if you didn’t already know) movie has to include one or two dumb catchphrases? Here we have “B-E-A-utiful.” Yeah, I know. It makes no sense. Also, we get the cringe inducing “It’s goooooood.” I just want to punch someone in the face every time I hear that. People should lose jobs for thinking that’s a good idea. Holy crap. (Even that would be a better catchphrase.)
Now for the good. Pretty much the rest of the movie is good. The script (written by Mark O’Keefe, Steve Koren, and Steve Oedekerk) includes some great spontaneous moments mixed with some telegraphed jokes that surprisingly still work. Even though the movie is loosely religious themed, the film avoided making it preachy and never used Christianity as a crutch. The result is a remarkably good mix of visual humor (usually with the aid of special effects) and decent comedic dialogue.
The acting, in general, is done rather well (for a comedy). Jennifer Aniston may not have many (or any) good lines, but her performance completely dwarfs Carrey’s. I wish she had a bigger role. The subtle gestures in her movements and words helped to ground the way-over-the-top goofiness of Carrey. Jim seems to want to recreate some of that magic he had in “Ace Ventura” and “The Mask.” However, this is a separate character and should not be as cartoony, nor should it be so flamboyant. There are ways to convey the selfish pompous jerk attitude without going to these extremes. Also, we know he is capable of a better job, so what gives?
This movie is just an excuse to let Jim Carrey let loose like he used to. It’s an excuse to use special effects and give more abstract absurd comedy a somewhat “plausible” explanation. But, you know what? I don’t care. It was still funny, God bless it!
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