Evan Almighty
I have to admit, this one surprised me immeasurably. When I first heard about it, and I’m sure this goes back to before I’d even heard of Steve Carell, I don’t know how long the movie has been planned for but it seems that long to me, I was convinced it would be a sequel like, say, Son of the Mask – so abominably less than the original that even those involved simply admitted the fact and went ahead and made it anyway. I’ll admit, as the trailer came out, etc, I did find my interest in seeing the movie rose … though the original Bruce Almighty makes me laugh my ass off, it’s never been exactly a fave of mine (okay, that’s probably just my Friends prejudice rearing its head with the presence of the Jennifer do).
In any case, I was into this within minutes – and about an hour later, I found myself so into it I couldn’t believe it. The pace is quite breathtaking and the gags come thick and fast, with Steve Carell more than holding his own in Jim Carrey’s place. It does kind of all fall apart in the end – before then, if you’re a big questioner of logic (I won’t even start) – but overall, the balance of the pace, the laughs, and the big (_huge_) visual thrills sort of overwhelmed me to be honest. I think without a doubt it’s a better movie than the original, if not quite funnier. Some will criticise the way it teeters on the brink of Happy Feet / Inconvenient Truth territory, but even that I found strangely befitting a movie where Morgan Freeman is God.