Bruce Almighty
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| Bruce Almighty | |
|---|---|
 Bruce Almighty theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Tom Shadyac |
| Produced by | Tom Shadyac Jim Carrey James D. Brubaker Michael Bostick Steve Koren Mark O'Keefe |
| Written by | Steve Koren (story/script) Mark O'Keefe (story/script) Steve Oedekerk (script) |
| Starring | Jim Carrey Morgan Freeman Jennifer Aniston Lisa Ann Walter Catherine Bell Steven Carell Philip Baker Hall Nora Dunn Eddie Jemmison Sally Kirkland |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 23, 2003 |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $80 million |
| Followed by | Evan Almighty (2007) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Bruce Almighty is a 2003 comedy movie directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe, and Steve Oedekerk. It stars Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, and Jennifer Aniston. Steve Carell, Catherine Bell, Lisa Ann Walter, and Philip Baker Hall co-star. Tony Bennett makes a cameo appearance.
When the film was released in American theaters in late May 2003, it took the #1 spot at the box office, grossing $85.89 million, higher than the release of Pearl Harbor, making it the highest-rated Memorial Day weekend opening of any film in motion picture history until the release of X-Men: The Last Stand over Memorial Day 2006.[1] The movie surprised media analysts when it beat The Matrix Reloaded after its first week of release. By the time it left theaters in December 2003, it took in a United States domestic total of over $242 million and $484,572,835 worldwide, breaking records as the highest-grossing live action comedy ever.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a TV news reporter at Eyewitness News Channel 7 in Buffalo, New York (WKBW-TV) who fails to get a job as an anchorman and, after a series of other bad luck incidents, complains to God that he is both treating him unfairly and is doing a poor job as supreme deity. Bruce is then contacted by God (Morgan Freeman) who grants Bruce all of his supreme power to see if he can prove that he can do a better job. Bruce quickly uses his new-found powers for personal gain. He sabotages the colleague that screwed him over so that he can get a better job, transforms his car from a Datsun 240Z to a Saleen S7, allows his favorite hockey team, the Buffalo Sabres, to get over a slump and move to the Stanley Cup, and enhances his girlfriend's breasts and sex drive. He is then reminded that he also has to take care of other people's problems. Meanwhile, Bruce endangers his relationship with his girlfriend, Grace Connelly (Jennifer Aniston), through his self-centered behavior. In the end, Bruce realizes that God's powers are best left for God to handle and graciously asks for God to take control of his life.
The movie portrays God as a wise but smart-aleckey elderly man. God quotes a line from one of Carrey's other movies ("Alrighty then", from Ace Ventura), and tells Bruce that if he wants, Bruce can fix all the world's problems in a few minutes, knowing full well from eons of experience that he cannot. Bruce receives millions of prayers, all from, according to God, his single town. Having to listen to the prayers of the whole world, one can only imagine how God feels. Bruce is thus able to realize just how much work God must do to keep creation "in line." As Bruce and God themselves put it in two scenes, where Bruce wants the person he loves to love him:
- Bruce: How do you make someone love you without affecting their free will?
- God: Heh, welcome to my world, son. If you come up with an answer to that one, you let me know.
And a second scene over prayers:
- God: You made a mess of things, huh?
- Bruce: There were so many [people]. I just gave them what they wanted. [Bruce had answered YES to all incoming prayers.]
- God: Yeah, but since when does anyone have a clue what they want?
This scene continues with poignant lines in which God allows Bruce to understand the true nature of people's problems and how to resolve them:
- God: Parting your soup is not a miracle, Bruce, it's a magic trick. A single mom who's working two jobs and still finds time to take her kid to soccer practice, that's a miracle. A teenager who says no to drugs and yes to an education, that's a miracle. People want me to do everything for them, and what they don't realize is - they have the power. You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle.
Bruce then begins to use his powers to make sure that he runs things in Buffalo the way he should. He goes through the prayers properly and doesn't just say yes to all. He apologizes to Evan (the employee who he sabotaged) and informs him that he quit the job and it is now his. He stands with the homeless man who has appeared to him at times with messages about life and supports him in his written sign messages to people on the street. He toilet trains the dog properly without using spiritual intervention. At the moment he succeeds in doing this, Debbie, Grace's sister talks to him about what she does at night before she goes to sleep (has a scoop of ice cream or watches Conan O'Brien) compared to what Grace does at night before she goes to sleep: she prays. She prays most of the time for Bruce. That evening looking at the prayers he is receiving he looks for those from Grace and notices one just coming in. He then uses his powers to see a vision of where Grace is. He sees her in the guest room at her sister's house, praying and crying because she still loves Bruce but doesn't want to hurt anymore. She prays for help to stop loving him.
At this point of the movie, a depressed Bruce walks onto the highway and is hit by a truck. He talks to God in heaven, who asks him "what he really wants." After Bruce asks for Grace to find a man to make her truly happy and see her the way he sees her now: through God's eyes. God brings Bruce back to life and Grace returns to him at the hospital. In the end, Bruce has changed his outlook on life - he is happy with the "cutesy" stories he covers as a reporter instead of being "Mister Exclusive" anchorman as he was during the time when he used his powers to make miraculous occurrences happen. He finally donates blood, and announces he and Grace are engaged. The ending scene features a slow close-up of the homeless man. As the camera gets closer the man turns into God, revealing that the homeless man was God all along. This echoes a line from the well-known Joan Osborne song, which Bruce was singing when he came home to Grace after receiving God's powers: What if God Was One of Us?
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Jim Carrey | Bruce Nolan |
| Jennifer Aniston | Grace Connelly |
| Morgan Freeman | God |
| Lisa Ann Walter | Debbie Connelly |
| Philip Baker Hall | Jack Baylor |
| Steven Carrell | Evan Baxter |
| Catherine Bell | Susan Ortega |
| Sally Kirkland | Anita Mann |
| Nora Dunn | Ally Loman |
| Eddie Jemison | Bobby |
[edit] Controversy and reception
- The movie was banned in Egypt and Malaysia due to pressure from Islamic religious circuits who objected to the portrayal of God as a visually ordinary man. The ban in Malaysia was eventually lifted after the Censorship Board gave it the "18PL" rating (suitable for adult viewers only for a combination of two or more of the given parental ratings)[3][4][5].
- In Iran, the movie was interpreted in the light of Twelver Shiism—the predominant branch of Islam practiced in the country. The appearance of Morgan Freeman's character at the end echoes the prophesied return of the 12th Imam.[6]
- The movie received rather mixed reviews (49% on Rotten Tomatoes and an average of 46 out of a 100 on Metacritic.com). The film took nearly $243 million at the box office, making it Jim Carrey's most successful film since 2000's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (also released by Universal).
- In a scene it parodies the Yahoo! into Yahweh, The true name of the Most High God.
- Robert Bausch, the author of "Almighty Me" contends that his book was the creative source for this film.[7]
[edit] Telephone numbers
The film caused controversy because God contacts Bruce, via pager, using an actual phone number rather than a number in the standard fictional 555 telephone exchange. The original telephone number was 776-2323.[8] No area code was included. Several people and groups sharing this number have received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to talk to God. Oddly enough, some of the calls went to a church located in Sanford, North Carolina, whose pastor happened to be named Bruce.[9] A church in Georgia also happens to use this number. This was also the cellphone number of the pastor of a church in Mercer, Wisconsin. The number even turned out to be valid in Greater Manchester in Britain.[10]
The producers noted that the number chosen was not in use in the Buffalo, New York (area code 716) area where the film is set in, but did not check anywhere else. The DVD and television versions changed the display of the pager to 555-0123. In some closed captions, the original line is left in, but it is dubbed out in the audio.
[edit] Inspiration
The station at which Bruce Nolan works, WKBW-TV, is in fact a real station, and the movie featured the station's actual graphics package used at the time of filming. However, a different news set and theme song was used instead of the Move Closer to Your World package used by WKBW at the time, and only one real WKBW-TV anchor actually appeared in the film: John Murphy, the sports anchor better known as the play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Bills.
[edit] Sequel
On June 22, 2007, Evan Almighty was released. The film stars Steve Carell reprising his role as Evan Baxter, and Morgan Freeman reprising his role as God. Although Bruce Almighty director Tom Shadyac returned to direct the sequel, neither Jim Carrey nor Jennifer Aniston, co-stars of the first film, were involved with this film.
[edit] Soundtrack
Original Release Date: June 3, 2003
Number of Discs: 1
Format: Soundtrack
Label: Varese Sarabande
- 01 - One of Us - Joan Osborne
- 02 - God-shaped-hole - Plumb
- 03 - You're a god - Vertical Horizon
- 04 - The Power - Snap!
- 05 - A Little Less Conversation - Elvis vs. JXL
- 06 - The Rockafeller Skank - Fatboy Slim
- 07 - God gave me Everything - Mick Jagger
- 08 - AB Positive - Hollywood Studio Symphony, Brad Dechter, Sandy De Crescent
- 09 - Walking on water - Hollywood Studio Symphony, Brad Dechter, Sandy De Crescent
- 10 - Seventh at Seven - Hollywood Studio Symphony, Brad Dechter, Sandy De Crescent
- 11 - Bruce Meets God - Hollywood Studio Symphony, Brad Dechter, Sandy De Crescent
- 12 - Bruce's Prayer - Hollywood Studio Symphony, Brad Dechter, Sandy De Crescent
- 13 - Grace's prayer - Hollywood Studio Symphony, Brad Dechter, Sandy De Crescent
[edit] References
- ^ 'Bruce' Blesses Memorial Weekend with $85.7 Million.
- ^ Box Office Mojo - Bruce Almighty.
- ^ Middle East Online
- ^ Bruce Almighty (2003) - Trivia
- ^ Malaysian Muslims call for ban on movie, AFP, Fri July 13, 2007
- ^ Karl Vick. "Misreading Tehran", Washington Post, June 25, 2006, p. B01. Retrieved on 2006-06-27.
- ^ Robert Bausch - Almighty Me!.
- ^ Joe does the Movies.
- ^ Bruce Almighty fans give God a call.
- ^ BBC News website, 30th June 2003.
[edit] External links
- Bruce Almighty at the Internet Movie Database
- Bruce Almighty at Rotten Tomatoes
- Bruce Almighty at Box Office Mojo
- Original Site
| Preceded by "The Matrix Reloaded" |
List of Box Office #1 Movies May 25, 2003 |
Succeeded by "Finding Nemo" |
| Preceded by "Liar Liar" |
Movies made by Spyglass Productions 1997-2007 |
Succeeded by "Evan Almighty" |
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