Bruce Almighty (2003)

Starring: Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, the Library Cop from Seinfeld, and Nora Dunn, with a cameo from Tony Bennett
Grade: A+

If you didn’t like Bruce Almighty, I would love to hear why. I can’t wait to disagree with you.

Summary

Bruce Nolan (Carrey) is a very popular reporter for a news station in Buffalo, New York. After a report on some mom-and-pop store in town breaking the record for Buffalo’s largest cookie, we see him frustrated at home with his girlfriend Grace (Aniston). He wants the anchor job, but he is continually forced to act like the jokey reporter because of the material given to him. He’s sure they’re going to give it to dipshit Evan Baxter (Carell). Even though Bruce is so focused on work, he has a great relationship with Grace. The next morning, he drops her off at the blood drive. Before she goes, she hands Bruce some prayer beads her kids at the day care center made because they’ll keep him safe. He passes it off as a joke and drives to work. Once he’s stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, he sees on his pager that the meeting has started without him. Eventually, he gets into work and to the meeting. Evan is there, along with Ally (Dunn), the head of the station in Jack (Phillip Baker Hall), and a couple of randoms. Jack decides to go with Evans’s story over Bruce’s. This adds fuel to the fire because Evan and Bruce already don’t like each other. Once the meeting is over, Bruce asks Jack what he can do to move to the next level as anchor Susan Ortega (Catherine Bell) walks by and greets Jack while ignoring Bruce. Seeing Bruce really wants it, Jack says that today is the 156th anniversary of the Maid of the Mist, and he wants Bruce in Niagra Falls in an hour.

He’ll get to be live as well, so now him and Evan will have live reports. This is a major step forward for Bruce.

After updating Grace on the situation with a phone call from Niagra, Bruce does his first live report. Right before they cue to him, they announce on the show that Evan will be taking the anchor job, and Bruce hears it from his earpiece. When they go to him, he has a complete meltdown on air and flips out on everyone at the scene and trashes his co-workers until the feed is cut. He’s fired and kicked out. Going to his car, he sees a group of thugs messing with some homeless guy. He shoos them away but after talking shit to them when they start to leave, they kick his ass. All in all, it’s not a great day for Bruce.

So naturally, Bruce blames God.

He gets into an argument with Grace because of how unhappy he is with his situation in life and storms out, asking God for help or answers of any kind during a drive. He even grabs the prayer beads. Unfortunately, he crashes right into a pole. After throwing the beads into a nearby body of water, he demands to have his questions answered. Just then, his pager goes off with an unknown number, but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge it. The next morning, he gets another page from the same number, so he throws it out of the window. Following this, he sees a message on the mirror from Grace that says she loves him, but they need to talk. His dog pisses on the furniture again, so he takes it outside. When he does, he hears the remnants of his pager on the street. Investigating it, he sees it’s the same number paging him. Finally, he calls it. There’s an “infomercial” like voice on the other end, and they offer help from some random location in town. Oddly enough, they even say “Bruce” by name in the prerecorded message. Intrigued, he drives to the abandoned warehouse in the message. He runs into the janitor (Freeman) who sends him to the seventh floor. He gets the empty floor to finally meet the owner of the place.

The man there isn’t just the janitor, he’s God himself.

After a few tricks from God to finally convince Bruce he’s dealing with someone very different, God gives him an intriguing offer. He offers Bruce the job of being God for a bit, challenging him to see if he can do any better (since Bruce acts as if the job is easy). As soon as he leaves this warehouse, he will have all of God’s powers. Passing him off as a crazy person, Bruce leaves in a haste. However, he starts to slowly realize the powers he’s been granted on his drive to a diner. There at the diner, he parts his tomato soup like Moses did the Red Sea, prompting God to appear in the booth with him to talk. Outside, he explains the two rules.

1. You can’t tell anyone you’re God.
2. You can’t mess with free will.

In the meantime, the real God will go on vacation and let Bruce take over the job for a bit to see how the job really is. In turn, Bruce sets himself up beautifully by using God’s powers to make his life perfect (getting his job back and getting the anchor spot, teaching the dog to use the toilet, making Grace’s boobs bigger, etc.), but he realizes quickly that there’s more to it than just taking care of himself.

My Thoughts:

When you think about it, the premise for Bruce Almighty could’ve been a golden opportunity for any comedic actor. Going through my head, I imagined how this film would differ had a prime Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, or even Eddie Murphy starred in it.

I tried to imagine it with Adam Sandler, but I feel like it wouldn’t be too far off from Mr. Deeds.

Regardless, it would’ve been good with any of them. However, I don’t think any of these hypothetical versions would possess the same type of spirit, wit, and surprising amount of sentimental value that Carrey got out of it. He was the right guy at the right time. He’s the reason why Bruce Almighty has so much staying power. Only Jim Carrey could make three signature lines in a single movie last a lifetime. To this day, I find myself doing the “It’s good” line. Why did that forever stick? It’s a testament as to how good Carrey was, is, and forever will be. In fact, he may be the only reason I know how to spell beautiful without even thinking about it (“B-E-A-U-tiful!”).

The bulk of this movie is Carrey screwing around using God’s powers to basically do whatever the hell he wants, and it’s so much fun. I could see Bill Murray having some fun with this, but he wouldn’t have the same energy in the role. Carrey is just relentless and consistently on the ball with every joke and gag. He’s able to make everything in this screenplay work, including having an actual monkey crawl out of someone’s ass. What they do with Bruce’s newfound powers are so creative. I loved it. For instance, how innovative is the idea of answering prayers via email, and it keep refreshing to millions more after he answers a bunch of them? Or manifesting the body of Jimmy Hoffa and being on the site to report it to save his job? It’s stuff like this that comes off as so simple but yet, so fresh and funny at the same time! It’s so entertaining at every turn, you don’t want this part of the movie to end.

Having the power to do anything opens up a world of possibilities, and I don’t think they waste these opportunities either. Sure, we could’ve had Bruce going to Mars or becoming President or something, but it’s not necessary. You don’t need to go that big with a concept like this. It has to make sense for the character, for the story, and it has to be done well. It could very quickly become “too much” if you go the other route. Personally, I think Bruce Almighty hits the sweet spot of what’s needed. Where the story goes, it makes sense for the character. Fixing his job, giving himself an awesome sports car, avoiding traffic by splitting the lanes of cars in half, and everything in-between, it makes sense as to why Bruce would do what he does and why he would be content with how far he goes. He never wanted all that extra stuff. He just wants these powers to fix his life. After this, he’s fine.

The fun being had is so infectious, and Snap!’s “The Power” couldn’t be a better song to make the montage work.

This may have been the last of peak Jim Carrey, but it’s still right up there with some of his best comedic work. Just the scene of Bruce forcing Evan to mess up his first broadcast as anchor was good enough to rank this as an all-time level comedy. Everything else in this movie could’ve failed, but this one scene would’ve saved it.

The introduction and how we get to the good stuff is also well done. How many times have you thought, “What else can go wrong today?”. You ever go through that period in your life where nothing is going right and you’re wondering what you did to deserve it? You ever ask why God can’t help you and give you what you want for a change? The beginning is eerily relatable because we’ve all had these moments of desperation. It includes all the little things we as humans go through, and Carrey perfectly exemplifying it (late to work because of traffic, getting his coat stuck in the door which only seems to happen when we’re in a rush, stepping directly into a pothole puddle, etc.).

On top of that, Bruce Almighty, though a ridiculously funny movie because of the comic superpowers possessed by Jim Carrey, is also a bit of a fable that helps us understand one of the most basic lessons learned in life in that helping and caring for others always has to be taken into account. Selfishness can consume you. Now, Bruce Nolan is not a bad guy. He’s funny, has the perfect girlfriend, and is successful in his field. Despite this, he wants more. He’s not satisfied with his position and thinks he deserves the world. Now, it’s okay to want the most out of your job. It’s okay to not be complacent, but it’s not okay to shove everyone else to the side in pursuit of it. Bruce is quick to blame others and everyone else as to why he can’t reach the next level, and it causes a strain in his relationship with Grace, the one person that supports him in every endeavor he has. He has this attitude of “I deserve the world. Why can’t I have it?”. It shows how flawed he is because though he doesn’t do anything mean to others to make him an outright bad person, you can tell he’s never seriously gone out of his way to think about anyone other than himself. After a week of having the powers of God (where he can do almost anything he’s ever wanted), he decides to only fix his life, ignoring the real responsibilities of God in listening and helping everyone else. He wouldn’t have even thought about it had God not dropped in and asked him what he’s done to help others.

We also see that his constant blaming of God when things get bad is to why this face-to-face meeting is warranted. Even God is tired of hearing the criticism of Bruce. He’s not an evil person that needs God’s guidance, he’s just someone that needs a push in the right direction with some divine intervention. It’s as if God sees that Bruce is a man that may teeter the line of falling apart, and he knows Bruce would benefit from an experiment like this, understand once he goes through it, and changes his life and others because of it. He’s a man who’s worthy to be involved in this experiment because he can make a difference. It’s what makes the character deserving enough to meet God and be given this opportunity.

The first meeting with God was obviously fantastic, but I don’t think enough has been said about the look of the scene. I absolutely loved the warehouse being the location of a heaven of sorts (located on the 7th floor no less). The all-white look, with everything clean and spotless, was such a great idea for the film. It was so simple but so memorable. Also, let’s be honest, I can’t think of a better actor to play God than Morgan Freeman. We know he has the voice, but he does radiate the omnipresent feeling that one would need to play God himself. He feels like someone who is all-knowing. Maybe the look of the warehouse added to the feeling, but something about Freeman as God is a match made in heaven.

It’s ironic as hell that Freeman is an atheist.

This may be a shot in the dark, but I feel like Carrey really resonated with this screenplay too. Early on, he talks about how badly he wants the serious job of being anchor, and he’s tired of doing the jokey reporter stuff. When he meets with Jack, Jack basically tells him he’s too good at making people laugh. Essentially, it was a way of telling Bruce to stay in his place. When he says this line, you can see Bruce give him this sad look like, “Really?”. I felt like Carrey himself was creeping out in this look, and I’ve been looking at the movie different ever since. This movie seems to mirror Carrey’s real-life mentality as an actor and can be looked at as the turning point of where he’s taken his career since. A lot of the messages in this film feel like an allegory to Carrey/Bruce to stop being selfish (and wanting more dramatic roles) and do things for others (stay in comedy where audiences love him). This probably wasn’t the intention when writing the screenplay, but I feel like it was subconsciously. It’s hard not to look at Carrey’s career and interviews and how the real person is and not consider this when re-watching a movie like Bruce Almighty. If you don’t believe me, rewatch it and tell me what you think. By the end, it really does feel like Hollywood is telling Carrey to stay in his place.

It honestly makes sense as to why his next film after this was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Aided by an innocent performance from Jennifer Aniston, a pivotal comedic role by Steve Carell, and a masterful blend of comedy with a touching display of emotion and questions regarding morality, Bruce Almighty is one of those movies that never gets old.