Evan Almighty
Review by Loc
The glint of a star was revealed in Bruce Almighty. When Jim Carey was having a field day with his newly acquired God-like powers, one of his innocent victims was a relative unknown named Steven Carell. An aspiring anchorman, Carey unleashed chaos upon his rival’s live telecast, leading to the most memorable scene in the movie: Carell eating up the adlibs with a string of belly-busting hi-lar-ity. Cut to four years later, Carell moved his way through The Daily Show to The 40 Year Old Virgin to The Office, and he’s lost the “n” in his name to make him Steve Carell. Yup, he’s hit the big-time, and what better way to continue the hot streak than to star in a Jim Carey sequel without Jim Carey. How does Evan Almighty stack up? Quick hit: solid indifference.
It’s nice to see Steve Carell act almost like a normal human being. In The Office, he wholeheartedly embraces the functional moron roll of Michael Scott. In The 40 Year Old Virgin, Carell was the lovably awkward, well, 40 year old virgin. Even in Bruce Almighty, you only remember his character as the pain in Jim Carey’s ass. So with Evan Almighty, seeing Carell act like a normal, super-busy father and husband is a nice change. However, the physical buffoonery still exists, and Carell pulls it off mostly. Still, there’s something missing even when his Evan “comedically” struggles with the gravity of the situation.
That something may be the writing. Sure, gags like birds flocking to his side may sound funny and read funny, but they don’t really look that funny. Things like building an ark with the help of animals, again, might sound funny, but these scenes induce mild chuckling at best. As an all-out comedy, Evan Almighty doesn’t quite hit its comic timing. There are some funny parts, mostly all thanks to Wanda Sykes, but even these scene stealers are only chuckle worthy. If you’re looking for that laugh-out-loud, belly busting comedy, keep on looking.
The plot also descends into a pseudo-preachiness that seems out of place. Which might sound weird as this is a movie about God. However, in the attempt to put the morality stamp on this flick, the writers ended up with clunky plot points that rang more hollow than genuine. Yes, we all know that Evan will learn an important life lesson, a lesson that we too can apply in our lives. However, the environmental aspect plays out forced and comes off as light as a hammer being dropped on your foot.
Overall, Evan Almighty is decent. As a comedy, it works OK. As a fun time out, it works OK. It never descends into the realm of horrible, and it never stretches to be great. The plot plays out a little weird, the God stuff is fully acceptable in this series, but scenarios like a Congressman building an ark and no one asking why he wasn’t at work for around 30 days comes off as lazy storytelling. Out of the 40 days of the flood, Evan Almighty sails along at 28 days. It’s nothing to get excited about, but it’s also nothing to get mad at.
