Bruce Almighty (Blu-ray)

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Video:

Jim Carrey is not given the heavenly treatment with the VC-1 high definition transfer of "Bruce Almighty" and the 1.85:1 VC-1 encode transfer delivers a decent looking transfer, but doesn´t send anybody out in the streets to praise "Hallelujah!" Detail is good, but never truly impresses. You can see some of the deeper details of Carrey and Freeman´s faces, but the transfer never approaches the quality seen by many of Universal´s better transfers. The film never offers a three-dimensional feeling experience with its slightly subdued level of detail. Color is good, but not great as well. The colors appear slightly dated and lack any tremendous pop. Black levels are fine and whites are very strong, as apparent in the scene where Morgan Freeman first wears a white suit. The source materials used for "Bruce Almighty" are clean and no digital flaws or overly intrusive problems from the print are apparent. The transfer is good, but "Bruce Almighty" never soars to the clouds.

Sound:

As is the case with all Universal Blu-ray releases, "Bruce Almighty" receives an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. This is a few decibels louder than the previous release and feels a smidgeon fuller, but is not a huge upgrade over the previous release as the film is hindered by less than impressive source materials. There is a limited presence of the original sound design of the film. Much of "Bruce Almighty" in constrained to the front three channels, with the center channel nicely delivering the dialogue and the left and right channels echoing sound effects and directional effects. The musical score by John Debney is kept low key and sometimes moves back to the rear channels. The .1 LFE subwoofer channel rumbles a few times during the film, but as is the case with most comedies, there just isn´t a lot of reason for it to shake proudly. The important part of any comedy is the dialogue and the jokes. Spanish and French DTS 5.1 mixes are included as well as subtitles in English SDH, Spanish and French.

Extras:

Aside from the omission of the theatrical trailer, the Blu-ray release of "Bruce Almighty" is essentially identical to the former HD-DVD release. BD-Live support is provided for access to promotional items. The Feature Commentary with Director Tom Shadyac has Shadyac using the word ´riffing´ when referring to Carrey´s impromptu abilities. He provides a lot of back information on the characters and the story and a decent amount of information pertaining to the making of the film. There are large amounts of silence in the commentary, but it is a decent listen.

The first stand alone supplement is the collection of Deleted Scenes (30:30) with optional commentary by Director Tom Shadyac. Many of these are longer takes showing Carrey at his absolute funniest moments. His impression of Sammy Davis Junior was very funny and should have been left in the film. The deleted scenes are smashed together as one cohesive feature. The Outtakes (6:37) are short, but very funny. Carrey loves to play on the set and many of his outtakes are worth watching. The aptly titled The Process of Jim (5:54) finds Tom Shadyac discussing his working with Jim Carrey and looks at more outtakes with the actor as he discusses how he works with Carrey to pull funny moments from the actor.

Closing:

I´m not the best person in the world to review a Jim Carrey movie. I´m biased. I find the man terribly entertaining and when he is being a bit zany in his comedies, I have a hard time not enjoying myself. The man is made of rubber has great comic sense. "Bruce Almighty" is one of the better examples of the man at play and what he can be done with a good project and a director that is familiar with the actor. With Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Aniston, Carrey has perhaps the best supporting cast of his career. The Blu-ray release is adequate, but the sight and sound are far from impressive and the supplements are a bit thin. At least Universal did not limit the offerings as they did with their recent release of "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." This film deserves better as far as the home video release, but this is still a fine Jim Carrey comedy. Skip "Evan Almighty" and stick with "Bruce Almighty."

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