| 63 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Though far from a disaster of Biblical proportions, Evan Almighty is a mild, sporadically funny comedy in an oversized sentimental frame.
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| 63 |
New York Daily News
Carell and Freeman are great together and Wanda Sykes' acerbic humor is perfect for her role as Evan's perplexed assistant.
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| 63 |
Miami Herald
Evan Almighty may not be enough to make you shout ''Hallelujah,'' but it's not the cinematic equivalent of a plague, either.
|
| 60 |
LA Weekly
What makes the film transcend its limitations is Carell, whose square, "Father Knows Best" demeanor belies a supreme comic self-confidence and whose implacability in the face of the movie's CGI-intensive animal antics can be marvelous to behold.
|
| 58 |
Entertainment Weekly
The message is so good-hearted, so inarguable, so dull.
|
| 50 |
ReelViews
Amusing in pieces but, taken as a whole, it offers little, and the morality lesson is galling.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
Carell is lovable as God's unwilling disciple. But the comedy is less than divine.
|
| 50 |
Charlotte Observer
Wanda Sykes and John Michael Higgins have energy as Evan's aides, and Jonah Hill (hot off "Knocked Up") gets laughs as a sycophantic researcher, but Graham has no chance to show what she can do.
|
| 50 |
Washington Post
In Evan Almighty, Mr. God goes to Washington. Frank Capra, stop rolling in your grave. At least they cared enough to steal from the very best.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
The film is a so-so slog through a torrent of tired jokes.
|
| 50 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
You'd hope God would think bigger for His divine intervention in American politics.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
Carell's frantic mugging as a modern-day Noah barely keeps Evan Almighty afloat.
|
| 50 |
The Hollywood Reporter
Carell is getting quite good as these everyman characters but lacks the audacity of, say, a Carrey or a Robin Williams. He is making comedy out of dullness.
|
| 50 |
Variety
It's mildly diverting for kids and families in a way that would be perfectly fine as an ABC Family cable project.
|
| 50 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Ultimately, Evan Almighty is too sappy, too sanctimonious.
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| 50 |
Boston Globe
Only in the last 30 minutes does Evan Almighty put his gifts to decent use. Epically hairy and biblically robed, Carell suggests at that point what a bolder, more psychologically serious treatment of religious conviction would have been like.
|
| 50 |
Slate
Dana Stevens
I really hope Evan Almighty doesn't become a surprise hit with a niche audience (Christian, environmentalist 8-year-olds?). Too much worldly success might tempt Steve Carell away from the righteous path of making movies as dark, weird, and funny as he is himself.
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| 50 |
Premiere
Eric Alt
The film wraps up in a neat, environmentally friendly package that might keep some kids entertained but will leave adults yawning.
|
| 50 |
The New York Times
A movie far less interesting than its premise. It is also slightly less interesting than its hugely popular predecessor, "Bruce Almighty."
|
| 50 |
Chicago Reader
Freeman's God is a mix of Old and New Testament, with a dash of both sexism and sitcom; Carell's Noah is a political fool, but that only proves he's honest and sincere. This is idiotic, but it's so good-natured I didn't mind.
|
| 40 |
New York Magazine
Evan Almighty runs out of comic invention early, and the filmmakers fall back on what real politicians do when they exhaust their small stash of ideas: brainless piety.
|
| 38 |
TV Guide
Though it's quite possibly an even worse film than "Bruce Almighty," the sequel offers at least one consolation: The smug and increasingly unfunny Jim Carrey is replaced by the very talented Steve Carell.
|
| 38 |
Chicago Tribune
Carell's pal and "Daily Show" colleague Jon Stewart has a cameo as himself, one of a chorus of godless media star non-believers who do not see God's larger plan for Evan. Yes, well. At least "The Daily Show" is funny.
|
| 38 |
USA Today
It's an almighty, humorless bore.
|
| 30 |
Salon.com
Carell is on the fast track to becoming Robin Williams, a guy who lost the plot far too early on and began pouring his considerable comic gifts into brain-dead heart-warmers.
|
| 30 |
Austin Chronicle
Bland jokes and lazy contrivances.
|
| 25 |
Rolling Stone
It's Carell who projects the movie's only sense of mischief. But it's too little and too late.
|
| 25 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
It goes without saying that Evan Almighty, a kid-friendly follow-up to the Jim Carrey vehicle "Bruce Almighty," is more Ronald McDonald than Holy Bible, but it didn't have to be this epically trite.
|
| 25 |
San Francisco Chronicle
A limp, slow-moving and desperately unfunny comedy.
|
| 20 |
Film Threat
Michael Ferraro
An unnecessary sequel to the equally unnecessary "Bruce Almighty."
|
| 20 |
Village Voice
Robert Wilonsky
It marks an unfortunate low point in the history of recent American comedy. There goes Steve Carell's perfect game.
|
| 20 |
Wall Street Journal
This is movie-making by and for dummies, a sappy little bible story, blissed out on its own ineptitude.
|
| 16 |
Baltimore Sun
A colossal dud.
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