You can’t fault the film for being inoffensive, family-fare. You can fault it for being unoriginal, uninteresting, and unfunny.
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In the mid-90´s, funnyman Jim Carrey shot to superstardom with a trio of smash-hit comedies, "Ace Ventura", "Dumb and Dumber", and "The Mask." It was a no-brainer for the studios to greenlight a sequel to each film. However, Carrey only reprised his role of the Pet Detective before pricing himself out of range with his $20 million fee. New Line eventually went on to make "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd", starring two unknowns, and "Son of the Mask" with Jamie Kennedy stepping into the lead. Neither was as successful as their predecessor and both films were savaged by critics. Meanwhile, Carrey was stretching his acting muscles to varying degrees of acclaim. While "The Truman Show" was a winner, films like "The Majestic" and "Man on the Moon" didn´t light up the box office. So it was that Carrey returned to his bread and butter with resounding results in "Bruce Almighty." Of course, Universal eagerly looked to shoot a follow-up, but both Carrey and co-star Jennifer Aniston declined to return. Instead, the studio looked to Steve Carell who graduated from second banana to leading man with "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
Previously, Carell played Evan Baxter, a rival news anchor to Carrey´s character Bruce Nolan. In "Evan Almighty", he goes from smarmy newsman to wholesome family patriarch. Evan looks to start a new chapter in his life as he uproots his family from Buffalo to Virginia after winning a seat into the United States Congress. Joining Evan along for the ride are his wife Joan (Lauren Graham) and his three sons, Ryan (Jimmy Bennett), Jordan (Graham Phillips), and Dylan (Johnny Simmons). He has a lot of expectations to live up to after running on a campaign promise of, "Change the world." The newly elected Evan may be on his way when veteran Congressman Chuck Long (John Goodman) takes him under his wing and, perhaps, put him in his pocket. Evan is moved into a lush new office and asked to co-sponsor Long´s new Land Use Bill that will open up the country´s national parks for housing developments.
A rather heavy monkey wrench is thrown into Evan´s plans when God himself (Morgan Freeman) tasks Evan with an even greater mission. A flood is coming and he needs to build an ark. Pairs of animals from all over the world flock around Evan. To show that God does have a strange sense of humor, he even causes Evan to grow out his hair and beard along with forcing him to wear robes. Evan´s life is thrown into turmoil as his family think he´s gone crazy and he´s suspended from Congress. News crews from across the country gather around his home to chronicle this wacko and his construction project. Even Jon Stewart gets in on the act. That Evan´s facial hair grows at nigh-impossible speed and he´s got hundreds of animals performing construction duties for him isn´t good enough proof for the mass. Evan must convince his family that he´s sane while trying to save the very people who mock and doubt him.
Carell has a few humorous off-the-cuff moments, but he´s not the whirling dervish that is Jim Carrey. Still, he´s a likeable everyman that does his best with the tepid material that he´s given. Morgan Freeman might as well be God for making subpar films like "Evan Almighty" or "Unleashed" at least somewhat watchable. Filling out the supporting cast are John Michael Higgins as Evan´s chief of staff, Wanda Sykes as Evan´s sassy executive assistant, Rita, who always has a one-liner ready, Jonah Hill as Eugene, a sycophantic Ed Helms as a condescending reporter, and Molly Shannon in a very brief role as a real estate agent named Eve Adams, get it?
The film sticks to its guns when it comes to well-meaning, feel-good themes of belief, faith, and community. It preaches the uplifting messages of protecting the environment and the importance of family. All well and good, but you still need a strong script to act as a backbone. The script for "Evan Almighty" has all sorts of problems. First, it´s predictable. We know exactly where the characters are going to wind up each step of the way. People will come around to Evan´s way of thinking and the trees will all be saved. The writers also feel the need to literally spell everything out for us. When God talks about acts of random kindness, he makes sure to let the audience know those three words form the acronym, "ARK." Secondly, the film is unoriginal. Most of the jokes revolve around animals following around a hapless Evan and his rapid beard growth. Both types of jokes were already done in "Dr. Doolittle" and "The Santa Clause." Finally, the film is a comedy, but it´s just not funny. Watching Carell do a silly dance doesn´t make me slap my knees or shoot milk out of my nose. And for a family-friendly movie, there are quite a lot of gags about animal poop.
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[release]21904[/release]