Evan Almighty Review

Evan is an obsessive groomer and neat-freak with a wife, Joan (of Ark, get it?) played by Lauren Graham, and three sons. He dislikes animals and wants badly to impress his more senior colleagues, particularly Congressman Long (John Goodman, who played Huey Long, coincidentally or not), who got him a sweet Hill office. The Congressman is sponsoring a bill he wants Evan to sign onto.

Meanwhile his wife and sons are struggling to adjust to their new neighborhood, which is still in development and largely empty. Almost immediately after the move, Evan is surprised to receive a set of ancient tools as a housewarming gift, followed by a delivery of wood and a persistent message of 6:14. God (Morgan Freeman, again perfectly cast) is calling. He wants Evan to build an ark and fill it with animals in anticipation of a coming flood. Animals begin flocking to Evan, much to his chagrin.

Carell plays the mystified and reluctant Evan pretty convincingly, and of course Freeman is the only choice to play God. I found Goodman to be more convincing as a politician in The West Wing than here. Graham isn't nearly as sympathetic a character as Jennifer Aniston had been in Bruce, but does her best as Evan's long-suffering wife.

Although still focusing on religion, faith and trust in God, this movie takes on a more environmental bent. Of course, Congressman Long's bill calls for destruction of public lands and national parks. I found this to be more laugh-out-loud funny than Bruce Almighty, but I still liked Bruce better.