Steve Carrel may not be up there in the same stratosphere as Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler just yet, but he’s working on it. Following a little market research, the producers of Bruce Almighty, an adult-rated comedy with religious overtones, cast Carrel as the focus of a family-rated comedy with religious overtones and have found box office success in creating a film that, while fully entertaining and amusing, shows a bit of reverence for G-d and his wisdom.
The new film, Evan Almighty, casts Carrel, star of NBC’s The Office, as a news anchor turned U.S. Congressman who is called by Morgan Freeman’s G-d character to build an ark in very Noah-like fashion, playing havoc with his debut in Congress.
Mixing elements of “The Santa Clause” with Cecil B. DeMille, Carrel struggles against the L-rd’s calling on his life, but finds himself oddly content once he embraces it. Filled with amusing moments and genuine humility, the flick should be satisfying family fare for folks whether they have cracked a Bible once in the last five years or not.
Evan Almighty shows how an ark might be completed by a small team of workers even though Evan had a much shorter timeframe than did biblical Noach. (Hint: the animals were enlisted by the Almighty for a little heavy-lifting assistance.)
Freeman’s portrayal of the Almighty is even gentler than his take on it in the original Bruce Almighty, and he brings just the right balance of sternness, truth-telling, and a genuine affection for his creation to the table; while portraying G-d in human form is always risky business, especially with religious audiences watching, in all Freeman’s take has become a personal favorite, far surpassing the classic takes of George Burns in the Oh God! series of films.
The tone of this blog is often a bit negative, pointing out Hollywood’s warts; every once in a while, th
