Hey folks, Harry here... Good ol Mr Beaks is here to enlighten us about BRUCE ALMIGHTY. He's seen it, and well... he wasn't completely sold on it... Let's take a look... together... awwwww, isn't that nice, now hold my hand... (BLUSH)
BRUCE ALMIGHTY (d. Tom Shadyac, w. Steve Koren, Steve Oedekerk & Mark O’Keefe)
Bruce Nolan is a man plagued. Professionally, he’s the laughing stock of Buffalo network news affiliate where he’s saddled with schmaltzy, dignity-depleting human interest stories, getting assigned pap like a mom-and-pop pastry shop bent on baking the biggest chocolate chip cookie in the city’s history. Never mind that Bruce has a knack for this kind of work, and is an ace at piecing these reports together; he wants to be a serious newsman like his idol Walter Kronkite. If only a little luck would break his way, one good karmic turn, a little…. divine intervention enacted on his behalf – then, success *and* respectability would be his. But God, apparently, has other plans for Bruce. If Bruce is running late for an important production meeting, God responds with a brutal traffic jam. When Bruce gets his first live remote, God makes sure it’s on the day his rival at the station is announced, on-air, as the replacement for the much coveted co-anchor chair. All this leaves Bruce raging at his maker, feeling as if his life is one big cosmic joke in which he’s destined to mug his way through innocuous local news features like a third-rate Willard Scott
Such is the premise of BRUCE ALMIGHTY, which might as well have been entitled THE JIM CARREY STORY. Smarting from the commercial failure of his dual dramatic efforts, MAN ON THE MOON and THE MAJESTIC, Carrey has been forced to reestablish his once-indisputable box office credentials by going back to the brand of broad comedy that launched his film career nearly ten years ago. To this most vital end, he’s re-teamed with director Tom Shadyac, the man who called the shots on ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE. This isn’t the first time Shadyac’s been called in to get Carrey’s career back on the rails; he provided this service back in 1997 with LIAR, LIAR, which was the salve on the wound of the actor’s first major misstep, THE CABLE GUY. This time, however, Shadyac could use a hit himself, having bottomed out in 2002 with the mind-numbingly spiritual Kevin Costner suspense flick, DRAGONFLY. Clearly, these guys have never needed each other more.
As a result, they’re taking no chances. Working from a shamelessly formula script penned by two television veterans – Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe – and one other longtime Carrey collaborator – “In Living Color” writer and ACE VENTURA 2 director Steve Oedekerk – the pair have found what would seem to be a foolproof, high-concept premise: what if God took a brief holiday and gave a hapless Jim Carrey all of his powers for a week? Dollar signs must’ve flashed in the eyes of Universal execs when they heard this pitch, knowing that these guys could nail this kind of material in their sleep. This is precisely the film’s problem. BRUCE ALMIGHTY is a listless cinematic sleepwalk through barren creative fields; a competent, confidently-paced, yet utterly lifeless piece of formula filmmaking with all the comedic kick of a tired stand-up comic working his “C” material in at 3:30 AM in Reno. It carries the stale stink of obligation.
The warning signs flash early and often in the film’s set-up, which is laden with forced physical shtick and below-average sitcom writing, which must be why Jennifer Aniston looks so bored as Grace, Bruce’s unbearably sweet, kindergarten teaching girlfriend. (One can easily sense her wondering why she’s spending her hiatus-time away from “Friends” on a film with “Yes, Dear”-level writing.) Essentially, it’s fifteen minutes of ho-hum build-up to Carrey’s being bestowed with divine powers, at which point Shadyac and his writers must’ve figured they’d be home free. They’re half-right; Carrey’s still has his comedic perfect-pitch. He knocks down bit after bit like Michael Jordan in a pre-game shoot-around, but the bits themselves aren’t terribly clever. You’ve seen the trailer in which a swaggering Bruce wreaks a tiny amount of havoc on a city street while lip-synching “The Power”. Sadly, it doesn’t get much more inventive than that. There’s nothing like the boardroom scene in LIAR, LIAR where Carrey cuts loose telling the brutal truth to a bunch of stiff corporate suits. Instead, they paint Bruce into mundane revenge scenarios – Steve Carell’s on-air comeuppance is disappointingly tame – or predictable abuses of his newfound gifts – of course, he explores their sexual upside. Only once, when Bruce subjects a former tormentor to literally endure the repercussions of a familiar saying (think primates and orifices), does the film ever deliver on the potency of its premise.
It remains to be seen whether the public is still hungry for Carrey’s brand of body-contorting antics. Last year, many prognosticators forecast doom for Adam Sandler’s MR. DEEDS only to be proven wrong to the tune of $125 million. But Carrey’s predicament is a little more precarious. BRUCE ALMIGHTY is a project pitched to his wheelhouse, but if he doesn’t find the bleachers this time out, his days as a top box-office draw could very well be numbered. And there’s no guaranteeing that this film, sandwiched in between THE MATRIX RELOADED and FINDING NEMO (not to mention THE ITALIAN JOB), will be able to generate a big enough opening to propel it to profitability (i.e. a domestic gross of $150 million).
Certainly, it’s not unprecedented for a mild entertainment of this caliber to make a killing at the box office, but in the summer, when most event films live and die on their opening weekends, BRUCE ALMIGHTY is a conceptual no-brainer when it should’ve been a marketing no-brainer. It’s an early summer gamble that could invoke the ire of the moviegoing public, a beast more mercurial and wrathful than any deity known to man, and one that could ultimately bring about that most unhappy of endings called ACE VENTURA 3.
Faithfully submitted,
Mr. Beaks
Harry here again... ya know, I'm not sure, but I've got this strange feeling that comedies this summer are going to be huge... even if they're mediocre at best. The world really needs to laugh, even if is only chuckle or even an eye-roll ending with a smirk. I'm geniunely curious how a Summer that could possibly end up with war coverage on television is going to go. I mean, while I know we geeks are hard up to see the coolness that the films like MATRIX RELOADED, X2 and THE HULK have to offer... Will audiences necessarily embrace darker material this summer (which all three will be) or will mass audiences be gravitating towards the frivolous. Right now, look at the box office on the Cinematic Poison that is BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE. A turd of the highly unpolished fashion, it's raking in the dough. It'll easily end up being a $100 million dollar hit. The film is pure trash. A complete and utter piece of shit with humor a thousand years old. #1 for 3 weeks straight. We'll see... Also, I have to say, for the same reason the UNIVERSAL execs jumped at this premise... Jim Carrey with the powers of GOD... It's that easy to sell. "Dude, the dog sits on the toilet to take a shit while reading the paper! hahahahaha" Those cheap sight gags (or due to FX, not so cheap) are easy quick advertisable nuggets that the audience can communicate to relatives that need a laugh. My personal belief is that the biggest film this summer is going to be FINDING NEMO. But that's just me predicting things... we'll see...
