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Bruce Almighty
Review by Jane Robertson (Jane's bio)
Directed by Tom Shadyac
Written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe, and Steve Oedekerk
Jim Carrey . . . Bruce Nolan
Jennifer Anniston . . . Grace
Morgan Freeman . . . God
Catherine Bell . . . Susan
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content, and some crude humor.
Thou shalt not fear seeing Bruce Almighty.
I did. I was afraid it would make fun of the Lord, try to demean Him for the sake of a cheap joke, be downright blasphemous. After all, this is Hollywood looking to make a buck. And, yes, there is a bit of bathroom humor and a few references to the female anatomy. But this movie is in fact a testimony, a primer for doubters.
Director Tom Shadyac labels himself a Bible-believer. In an interview published at ChristianAnswers.net, he says, “If you take one sentence out of the Bible and that sentence deals with violence or sex . . . you wouldn't want to go near the Bible. But if you look at [it] as a whole, it's redemptive and beautiful, and it's God's love story to mankind.”
In a lesser way, the same is true of Bruce Almighty. The elements that keep it from having a G rating spring from the time before Bruce learns the lesson of life. They show us how fuzzy his focus is and how misdirected his goals. He complains about the lousy job God is doing of running things, and he considers himself to be the target of God's specific wrath. No huge shock there—both are attitudes even many devout Christians have to struggle against at times, and Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey—variously Ace Ventura, the Grinch, and the man behind The Mask) is hardly devout.
But then God (Morgan Freeman of Amistad and The Sum of All Fears) gives Bruce a gift, the very same dangerous one the serpent promised Eve. He, Bruce, becomes like God. Well, almost. Not only can he walk on water and hear people praying, but he can also, for his own viewing pleasure, aim a breeze to lift a shapely woman's skirt. It doesn't take long, though, for Bruce to find out that playing God is sweaty work. From there he goes on to figure out, with some gentle parental swats from the real Almighty, what being God's child is all about.
The movie presents us with elegant evil in the form of news anchor Susan Ortega (Catherine Bell of “JAG”) and gorgeous good in the person of Bruce's girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Anniston of “Friends” and, appropriately, The Good Girl). Susan tries to seduce Bruce; Grace—random name choice?—prays for him.
It seems almost miraculous: What looks at first like a shallow comedy delivers a deep message of love and service. And it does so in Jesus' own style, through a story patterned on real life and peopled by flawed characters. The writers know their comedy; Steve Koren teethed on “Saturday Night Live” and “Seinfeld,” Mark O'Keefe on “NewsRadio” and “Politically Incorrect,” and Steve Oedekerk on both editions of The Nutty Professor. Somewhere along the way, though, they developed heart and poured it into this film.
Shadyac has almost fashioned a career out of working with premier crazy men: Robin Williams in Patch Adams, Eddie Murphy in the Professor movies, and Carrey himself in Liar Liar and Ace Venture: Pet Detective. His more serious side, glimpsed in Patch Adams, came uppermost in Dragonfly and reasserts itself in the second half of Bruce. In the guise of a silly little flick, he reminds us of our values and the One who helps us live them.
Copyright 2003, Jane Robertson. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
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About Jane Robertson: A staff editor for the nature magazine Snowy Egret, Jane has written for various Midwestern periodicals and the Southern Baptist Convention's Ambassador Life. Her book about a Scottish immigrant, Hope Was Worth the Risk, was published in 1995. She contributed to the Dawkins Project's upcoming CeLEBRATIONS: Notes to My Grandfather.
E-mail Jane |
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