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Bruce Almighty
Universal Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language, sexual content and some crude humor
Starring
Jim Carrey,
Jennifer Aniston,
Morgan Freeman,
Lisa Ann Walter,
Catherine Bell,
Steven Carell,
and
Sally Kirkland
Bruce is a local news reporter who is discontented with nearly everything in his life, and rarely misses an opportunity to complain about it. Until one day God endows Bruce with all of his powers and challenges him to take on his job and see if he can do any better. (Universal Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Fantasy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Steve Koren (also story)
Mark O'Keefe (also story)
Steve Oedekerk
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Tom Shadyac
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 25, 2003
Video: November 25, 2003
Theatrical: May 23, 2003
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Carrey is so gifted a physical comedian that even mediocre material shines in his talented hands, not to mention his talented feet, face, elbows, ears, hair and, ahem, derriere.
80
Dallas Observer
Bill Gallo
Bruce Nolan is one deeply disgruntled barrel of laughs--the emotional kin of Bill Murray's cynical weatherman in "Groundhog Day."
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
A diverting comedy that in its last act becomes unusually sober. While the film both explicitly and implicitly pays tribute to Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," the upshift from irreverent slapstick to reverent sermonette is extremely abrupt.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Everyone is well cast and no one more perfectly than Freeman, who is far more God-like than George Burns ever was. Freeman's God is wise, humble, wry, patient and funny but never mean-spirited.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Aniston, as a sweet kindergarten teacher and fiancee, shows again (after "The Good Girl") that she really will have a movie career.
75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
When Carrey is doing his thing as the Almighty, histrionically whipping up one miracle after another and relishing the power, "Bruce" has you spring-cleaning your lungs with laughter. But you are made to pay for it with a third-act sap-rising that's as thick as the final reels of "Patch Adams."
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Sheri Linden
Although the film's jabs at TV journalism are nothing new, Carrey brings to the material the sense of someone who's too smart for his work yet loves it -- the essence, perhaps, of being a ham.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Carrey isn't afraid to go happily psycho, like Peter Sellers or Eminem on his funniest tracks, and that's his edge.
63
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Bruce Almighty would rather go runny and bland, mostly where Aniston's Grace is concerned.
63
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
It would be nice to say that Bruce is hilarious, rather than merely (and fitfully) funny; certainly, the premise suggests laughs more consistent and outlandish than are present here.
60
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Even more than Jerry Lewis, Robin Williams or Pee-wee Herman, Mr. Carrey, now 41 (pretty old for an overgrown kid), sustains a maniacal energy that explodes off the screen in blinding electrical zaps. Those jolts don't always feel pleasant.
60
LA Weekly
John Powers
Carrey's schizophrenic new effort gives you both at once -- it drowns his hilarious physicality in an ocean of sap.
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
The movie is mainly an excuse to display special-effects gags in the form of the various miracles manifested -- some of which are highly imaginative, some of which aren't.
50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The screenplay doesn't ultimately make much sense. Carrey is a unique comic talent, though, and Freeman and Aniston back him up with such sensitive supporting performances that the film almost works if you can suspend enough disbelief to swallow its fantastic premise.
50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
The actors don't seem to have been directed at all, and the movie is very sluggishly paced.
50
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Any story from the "Patch Adams" team of director Tom Shadyac and writer Steve Oedekerk is bound to end up floating in a soup of moral homilies, and "Bruce" does.
50
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
As long as this deity remains childish, materialistic and narcissistic, Jim's in his heaven and all's right with the world. It's when the story reaches for maturity, spirituality and altruism that the divine spark of comedy sputters and nearly goes out.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
From the script to the title character to the direction, the watchwords here are three: Play it safe. The whole thing reeks of the formulaic.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Even apart from the fact that it's not nearly funny enough, Bruce Almighty is a peculiar film.
50
Village Voice
Ed Park
A looking-glass cover version of "The Truman Show," the maudlin Jim Carrey vehicle Bruce Almighty lets the comedian ply his rubber-limbed shtick as well as indulge his pursuit of sappiness.
50
Slate
David Edelstein
I like my God, though, like I like my comedies: ruder, cruder, and able to show me things I haven't seen before. Bruce Almighty is sadly miracle-free.
50
Film Threat
Rick Kisonak
Long before you buy your ticket to the new Jim Carrey film, you've already been doomed to disappointment. Several parties play a role in this. Interestingly, Jim Carrey isn't one of them.
50
Variety
Robert Koehler
There's remarkably little done with a premise snatched from high-concept heaven, adding yet another file to the growing cabinet of under-realized comedies.
50
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
While Bruce Almighty does end on a modest "Candide"-like note, the getting there is too strained to be much of a pleasure.
50
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Just a vehicle for Carrey to do his hyperactive shtick. He has some entertaining bits, such as his rain-drenched meltdown in which he victimizes some stunned innocents, but he’s working so strenuously that at times he’s hard to watch.
40
Chicago Reader
Staff (Not credited)
Without a decent script, Carrey can't create much of a character, and the farce loses its edge the moment it starts trying to tell a coherent story.
40
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Unless you like boob jokes and preachy sentimentalism, this comedy isn't funny at all.
40
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
Bruce Almighty attempts to blend both sides of the actor – comedic and dramatic – and while Carrey achieved that balance quite wonderfully in "The Truman Show," Bruce Almighty doesn't so much straddle the fence as impale itself on it.
38
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
A woefully underwritten motion picture that starts out as a dumb comedy before taking an ill-advised detour into mawkish sentimentality. The last 30 minutes of Bruce Almighty is so godawful that it almost sent me screaming from the theater.
33
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Like his (Carrey) early work, it's not a particularly good film -- insipidly staged, inanely plotted, too weak to withstand the weight of any inquiries into logic or continuity -- but Carrey's energetic mugging, particularly early on, makes it relatively painless.
30
TV Guide
Frank Lovece
It's a classic fantasy scenario, overflowing with creative possibilities, but Carrey's Nolan isn't charmingly misguided or comically loathsome enough to deserve the lesson; he's just a big, inconsequential crybaby.
25
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
The potential for real offense is palpable, but Bruce Almighty never gets there; the script is too lazy and incoherent--truly effective blasphemy takes brains and rigor.
25
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
It's all rote, sleep-inducing formula, but it might have still worked if the movie weren't so timid and unimaginative.
20
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Something between an indiscretion and an atrocity.
0
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Even the most narcissistic jerk, like the one played by Jim Carrey in the loathsome comedy Bruce Almighty, would be expected to dream up untold pleasures for himself, acting as a self-serving genie with infinite wishes.
 The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 74 User Votes
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