As Different From Bruce Almighty As Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell
Movie Reviewer, a storyteller, A Big Giant Sap, a believer of fate, mother of 2
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JAN
27
2008
Evan Almighty —
Perhaps those that are disappointed with Evan Almighty are going in with certain expectations. Knowing that this movie was supposed to be a semi-sequel to Bruce Almighty, many are expecting this movie to match the original. That's not what we get here, but that's not such a bad thing. Thinking about it, the actors in the starring roles of the two films, Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, are just as different as the two movies. While Carey seems to rely on more slapstick humor, Carrell's humor seems to be more self-deprecating.Carrell stars as Evan Baxter, a former news anchor who wins election as a congressman, and moves his wife (Lauren Graham) and three sons to Washington, D.C. As his wife is joining him in bed their first night in the house, she shares with him that their two younger sons were actually praying when she was tucking them in. The youngest prayed for a dog, and the middle son good weather so that they may go on the hiking trip Evan promised. Evan's wife shares that she prayed for them to become a closer family. After everyone else is asleep, Evan prays as well, noting that "with great power comes great responsibility." He asks God to help him change the world, which just happens to have been his campaign slogan.
It's after this that the letters GEN and the numbers 614 show up in numerous places as his GEN brand alarm clock goes off at 6:14 every day no matter what. His house number is 416, but he keeps getting packages mailed to him at 614, packages that are oddly including old world carpentry tools and gopherwood. Gopherwood? Are there actually gopher trees out there?
This film is supposed to be a comedy, yet there really weren't any big laughs yet, just a few tiny giggles. Then Wanda Sykes appeared in the film. She seems to pull all the good lines as Evan's office assistant, Rita. After his hair and facial hair start growing uncontrollably, Rita tells him he sounds like Evan, but looks like a BeeGee. She asks if he's been shooting up Rogaine and tells him he needs SuperCuts. Evan does get in a good line as well, as he tells her his wife is just a big Loggins and Messina fan. He needs to get cleaned up quick, though, as he's supposed to be voting on a congressional bill being sponsored by a more senior congressman played by John Goodman.
Evan eventually finds the reason for the number 614 and the long hair. Genesis 6:14 instructs "Make thee an ark of gopherwood." Once God appears, he's ultra-hip, played by Morgan Freeman. He knows everything about Evan, such as one nipple is 1/4" higher than the other. He wants Evan to build that ark, and he's not going to take no for an answer, and neither are all the animals that keep following him around in pairs. While you would expect the movie to become unbelievable at this point, it actually begins to get clearer, as the prayers of Evan's family begin to take shape.
While Evan Almighty is definitely a comedy and is billed as that, it really has a great story and message to tell. The family prayed that one night, and the more they believed, the more their prayers seemed to come true, but not in the ways they wanted them to. As God explains to Evan's wife, "If someone asks God for patience, He doesn't give them patience. He gives them an opportunity to be patieint. If someone asks God for courage, He doesn't give them courage. He gives them an opportunity to be courageous."
Evan Almighty is recommended by LauraBelle
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