This modern telling of the story of Noah simply falls flat and if I were one of the animals, I’d ask for a bigger boat...
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Jim Carrey prefers to forego making sequels and not revisit characters he has portrayed. Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman and Tom Shadyac should have listened to their former coworker and not performed at both ends of the camera for "Evan Almighty." Perhaps Freeman enjoyed playing god all too well, but the veteran actor definitely deserves better than "Evan Almighty" and one could suspect that Universal and Shadyac were simply trying to capitalize on the recent successes of Steve Carell. Sometimes a sequel without its main star works. Other times it does not. History has taught us that sequels without Jim Carrey do not work too well. Shadyac should have sat down and watched "When Harry Met Lloyd" before making "Evan Almighty."
Steve Carell reprises his role as Evan Baxter. Evan continues to work his way to the top and his job as network anchor wasn´t quite big enough. This time, Evan has successfully run for Congress and moves to Washington D.C. with his family to assume his position as a Congressman. His wife Joan (Lauren Graham) and his children Dylan (Johnny Simmons), Jordan (Graham Phillips) and Ryan (Jimmy Bennett) are at first reluctant to pack up and begin a new life, but when they see their tremendous new house, they are willing to give life as a political family a try. Of course, Evan shows his ego instantly when he chooses three hundred year old wood for his cabinets and dumps rainwater to thwart a thirsty dog from getting a drink. He does take time and pray to God to ask to help change the world.
The always opportunistic Evan quickly joins forces with Congressman Chuck Long (John Goodman) to be a junior co-sponsor a bill that would allow for the outskirts of protected lands to be cleared for housing developments. Evan sees this as a huge opportunity. He cancels a hiking trip with his eager family and dedicates his time to reading through the massive stack of papers that the bill is written upon. Whereas Evan prayed to have his family become closer, his new job only serves to distance those he loves from him. He uses those around him to help him get further ahead as a Congressman and the small bone dangled by Chuck Long is more than enough to put him on a path that has Evan becoming so involved with his job and the prospect of making a name for himself by helping Long pass the bill that Evan soon ignores everything around him.
God (Morgan Freeman) has answered Evans prayers and immediately begins to send messages, tools and a supply of wood to Evan´s household. Evan is awakened by an alarm clock at 6:14 each morning; a hint of the gospel of Noah. Evan is unsure of who sent the wooden hammers and other assorted tools and places a sign on the huge delivering of lumber and offers it free to anybody who can take the wood away. Animals begin to follow Evan everywhere he goes and typically follow him in pairs. Birds flock to him and seemingly refuse to leave him alone. Evan continues to push his workers Rita (Wanda Sykes), Marty (John Michael Higgins) and Eugene (Johan Hill) to help him prepare for Long´s bill, but the continual assault by animals that are enamored by Evan start to cause problems for Evan and his hopes of success in Congress.
The animals are not the only problem faced by Evan. His facial hair starts to grow at an unreal rate and when he shaves, the hair instantly grows back to the length it was before he shaves. More and more animals begin to follow Evan and after a few conversations with God, Evan starts to believe there may be some truth to the new demand from God that Evan should build an Ark. God even supplies a copy of the Dummies Guide to Ark Building. The aging and forever growing hair quickly becomes a burden for Evan and when the animals invade an important hearing for the bill, Evan is laughed out of Congress. He found himself wearing a biblical robe during the hearing and finally believes that he must build the Ark requested by God and must do so by September 22nd. Evan soon becomes known as the New York Noah to the press, but is nothing more than a joke to everybody around him, including his family.
Eventually, Evan discovers that Chuck Long had created the bill for his own Capital gain. Chuck and others work with law enforcement to give Evan a deadline for discontinuing work on the Ark or they will destroy it. The deadline is September 22nd, which is the same deadline given to Evan by God. Evan´s family returns to help him finish the massive boat and even the pairs of animals join in to assist Evan in completing the daunting task of building an Ark. Evan becomes a better man during the building of the Ark. He embraces the concept of sacrifice and sharing. He works hard on completing the Ark and completely puts his own career at risk to finish the boat before the flood he believes is coming arrives. Of course, God knows that Evan will indeed need the Ark to survive a flood, but the source of the flood isn´t exactly what Evan was expecting.
This modern telling of the story of Noah simply falls flat and if I were one of the animals, I´d ask for a bigger boat with an on-cruise movie to replace this dud. This film has a few funny moments, but suffers from a serious case of the unfunnies during most of its length. John Goodman is completely underutilized during this film, as is the incredible talents of Morgan Freeman. The only overly interesting on-screen chemistry is between Johan Hill and Steve Carell. These two share some funny exchanges and the creepy behavior of Hill´s character is the most interesting character in the film and I´m of the full mind that "Eugene Almighty" would have been a riot. Having Morgan Freeman in a film should make any picture instantly worth watching, but the problem with "Evan Almighty" is that we´ve already seen Freeman play God more convincingly and with more conviction. That movie was "Bruce Almighty."
Steve Carell is a comic where he needs to be left a little unhinged to be at his best. Taking part in what is essentially a Sunday school comedy doesn´t quite fit Carell. The horribly unfunny ´dance´ that is a running gag through the film doesn´t tickle any funny bones. Carell´s jokes needed anything but a bigger boat to contain the laughs they stir up. There simply weren´t any. Once Carell leaves his day job as a Congressman and moves to become a full-time Noah, "Evan Almighty" leaves the laughs behind and what is left behind is a slightly entertaining look at trained animals and special effects that lack the energy and humor of the earlier Shadyac/Carrey collaborations, the "Ace Ventura" films. With only a few laughs to be found through this biblical study of Ark building and underutilized acting talent, "Evan Almighty" is a film that could have been better, but is limited by a PG rating and the omission of Jim Carrey.
Video:
"Evan Almighty" is one of Universal´s more recent films and is given the familiar "Combo Format" treatment that is typical of the studio´s bigger releases. The HD-DVD side contains the film in a nicely detailed 2.35:1 transfer. The flip side contains an anamorphic 2.35:1 DVD mastered transfer that looks quite good in terms of DVD technology. This being an HD-DVD review, the HD-DVD side is what we´ll look at. The coloring of "Evan Almighty" is strong, but not quite as vibrant as some other recent Universal titles. The colors aren´t desaturated or lacking. They just feel a little darker than normal, as if some depressing haze has been placed over the film to strike back at the filmmakers for making it in the first place. Detail is quite good and the animals look spectacular. The special effects during the flood sequence didn´t quite stack up and there were a few minor moments when the level of detail tailed off, but "Evan Almighty" was generally strong in detail. The source materials used were in perfect condition and not one flaw in either the print used or the digital mastering can be found. I can´t call "Evan Almighty" a perfect transfer, but it is a strong effort. Too bad the film can´t be as strong in its content.
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[release]21905[/release]