CollinGossel’s review published on Letterboxd:
It’s been at least a decade since I rewatched this middle-school favorite. I expected it to age a bit poorly and, while I wasn’t wrong, there were still some charms in the movie that I feel the high-brow film crowd will write off. It’s easy to forget this movie was a HIT - maybe not a critical success, but it genuinely resonated with audiences. There must be something here that worked.
So what was it? Upon rewatch, it struck me how similar in structure and tone Bruce Almighty was to the widely accepted classic Groundhog Day. Let’s not get the wires crossed, Groundhog Day pulls off every beat more effectively, but the journey from selfish jerk to selfless mensch facilitated by highly watchable supernatural shenanigans is the backbone of both films. And while Bruce is nowhere near the cad of Phil Conners at the start of the story, it is undeniably effective when he finally fully learns to put others before himself and accept his place in the world. I’ve read some negative reviews of the movie that describe this aspect of the film as unpleasant “treacle,” one assumes because they came to a Jim Carrey/Tom Shadyack movie for nonstop silliness and slapstick. I would argue against that dismissive read - this movie, which casts Carrey in one of his most Everyman-esque roles, is clearly keyed in on its message and removing the “treacle” would make it worse, not better.
Morgan Freeman as God is great, fully believable, very charming, running the gamut from loving to menacing with ease.
And there are still PLENTY of slapstick bits, some of which are funny to this day, others that feel more amusing than genuinely laughable, and others which probably would have been better left offscreen. Weirdly, my mvp joke is when Bruce tells the gang of tough guys “you better keep walkin!” And they turn back to him like “what did you say to me?” And Carrey immediately turns the horror up to 10 and points at the nearby homeless guy screaming “RUN MAN!!!!” Great bit that was not about his God powers at all.
Humor low moments? Probably Bruce making Jenifer Aniston super horny while she “freshens up” before sex by trumpeting the word PLEASURABLE but honestly that’s just one of many strange and slightly unpleasant moments the movie offers. There are also many moments that feel neither funny nor uncomfortable, but simply “oh, yeah I guess that’s cool,” like when Bruce lassos the moon or gives himself a nice car - no one is guffawing but hey, we came here for movie magic right?
Alright, time to talk about the Carrey of it all. This was likely the height of his powers as an A-list movie star, and it shows - his “Carreyisms” make the character at times charming, at times insufferable, at times genuinely funny, but there’s no denying his onscreen magnetism. The man was locked in. One of the reasons this movie “works” despite its many pitfalls (see below) is because Carrey is so watchable. Both he and Aniston deliver on what they do - there aren’t any Oscars coming from Bruce Almighty but both of these actors are beloved by audiences for their humor and charm, both of which they do deliver. Also, for what it’s worth, they both look very beautiful! Is this Carrey’s sexiest role? Sound off in the comments.
Alas, it’s time to talk about what doesn’t work. First and foremost, this is a Christian film. It sidesteps full Jesus branding by making Bruce’s journey ultimately be about his ego, but there’s a LOT of “Bruce you just need to have faith in God!” Thrown in for good measure. One can understand the poor critical reception, you’re basically getting the slapstick shlock of a Shadyack/Carrey film and the preachy arrogance of a Jesus flick. And frankly, the compromise here doesn’t do either genre justice - it’s not funny enough to be a true comedy nor moving enough to cross into more “serious” consideration. As mentioned before, many of the film’s “jokes” feel a step short of getting a laugh. Bruce uses his powers to teach his dog how to use the toilet - amusing idea! It probably needs something else to draw actual laughs.
Endowed with the powers of God, it never even occurs to Bruce to do things beyond “get some nice clothes,” “score a promotion at work,” and “get revenge by making a fully grown monkey CLIMB OUT OF A MAN’S ASS?!” To be fair, Bruce’s arc is about his selfishness so it’s tempting to forgive Bruce’s complete lack of regard for anything beyond his personal sphere…but come on! You can do anything, be anywhere, create and destroy at will and Bruce’s big play is…become anchor of the local news. Upgrade Jen Aniston from a B to a C Cup. One feels the potential of the premise wasn’t fully realized - perhaps it can’t ever be in a comedy with this tone!
And then there’s the whole thing about becoming anchor - personally, I don’t quite understand how being anchor is in any way better than what Bruce is already doing except perhaps in terms of pure prestige but BOY he wants it bad. And he ultimately gets it by being at the “right time, right place” for like 3 breaking news stories over the course of a week? That is the exact opposite of what anchors do! If this guy is so good at being in the field, finding the stories, why would you put him behind the desk? Why would he WANT to be behind the desk? He’s for a freakin billboard of just his face and nickname above the station, how is it an improvement to be the anchor? This is, to be fair, an objectively small issue but I couldn’t get over it while watching.
Despite the movie’s generous runtime of 1 hour 40 minutes, the pacing felt rushed, with almost no buildup between any of Bruce’s actions and their immediate consequences. The film waits a pretty long time before introducing the idea of “answering prayers” which Bruce BARELY even makes an effort at before moving on - in another version of this story, this mechanic could have been the entire movie. I don’t know if that movie would have been better or worse, but before you have time to think about it we’re off into something new, with very few of Bruce’s choices leaving any lasting results to follow us into the future. When a riot finally breaks out over $17 lottery winnings, viewers could be forgiven for wondering what exactly all this commotion is about.
Then there’s Bruce’s weird obsession with God in the first place! He’s having a run of bad luck - sure. He’s angry - of course. How does he handle this? By railing, ranting, and raving against the idea of GOD - ….what? Bruce is not a super devout guy, which I can empathize with. So it feels very strange when the main recipient of anger for his misfortunes is a higher power he barely believes in otherwise. Of course, this is all clearly a device setting up the premise of the movie but it still comes off as unbelievably strange. It’s like if I had the worst couple days of my life (clearly at the hands of other people and pure bad luck) and starting screaming to the heavens about how Zeus is a fucking idiot. Does Bruce believe or doesn’t he prior to meeting God? Is he truly angry at God or is it just a misdirected aimless rage? Strange behavior.
It’s really hitting me that I’ve written too much for too long about Bruce Almighty. Suffice to say this is a deeply flawed film with some notable charms, especially if you like what Carrey does in general.