Rated: 12A
Go to see a Jim Carrey movie and you pretty much know what you are going to
get. Funny faces, falling over, silly voices and all the usual
repertoire. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially when it's
done so well.
Still, that it's been toned down a bit in this movie is no bad thing,
and it keeps Carrey's character endearing and human without crossing the fine
line into irritating and grating.
The basic premise is this: Bruce is a TV reporter down on his luck and
a torrent of even more bad luck leads to an outburst against God and the rubbish
job he is doing. And God did say unto Bruce, "Have my powers, see if you
can do any better".
This all adds up to an entertaining comedy with a heart-warming story that
manages to pull itself back just before falling over the brink of slushy disney
sentimentality.
What lifts it up above just an "entertaining comedy" are some great comedy
moments, the brilliant casting of Morgan Freeman as God (how many actors get the
honour of saying the line "I am God!"?), and a genuinely hilarious scene in the
newsroom that will no doubt stand out for anyone who sees it.
I don't think that a scene of a film has ever made me laugh as hard in a
cinema ever before. There were a few in "Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones"
but that was for entirely different reasons, for which I was sedated and removed
from the theatre.
