Bruce AlmightyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bruce Almighty is a 2003 American comedy film directed by
Tom Shadyac and written by
Steve Koren,
Mark O'Keefe and
Steve Oedekerk. It stars
Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck TV reporter who complains that
God isn't doing His job correctly, and is then offered the chance to try being God himself for one week.
Morgan Freeman,
Jennifer Aniston,
Steve Carell,
Catherine Bell,
Lisa Ann Walter, and
Philip Baker Hall also star, while
Tony Bennett makes a
cameo appearance.
This is Tom Shadyac and Jim Carrey's third collaboration after working together in Shadyac's first film,
Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, which also launched Carrey's career. Six years earlier, Shadyac and Carrey worked together to make the successful 1997 film,
Liar Liar.
The film was a box office success despite mixed reviews from critics. When released in American theaters in 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.
[2] 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 million worldwide, breaking records as the 17th highest-grossing live action comedy of all time.
[1]Plot
Bruce Nolan (
Jim Carrey) is a television field reporter for
Eyewitness News on
WKBW-TV in
Buffalo, New York, who, through his continuous coverage of media interest stories, rather than hard news, is unsuccessful at getting a job as an anchorman. He is in love with his girlfriend Grace (
Jennifer Aniston), but is also very attracted to his gorgeous co-worker Susan (
Catherine Bell) who doesn't even notice him. When anticipating a promotion to a vacant anchor position, and while on the air, Bruce becomes furious when he hears that rival co-worker Evan Baxter (
Steve Carell) gets promoted and he gets fired. After Bruce gets fired from his job, he complains to
God (
Morgan Freeman) that He is treating him (Bruce) unfairly and is doing a poor job as supreme
deity. God then contacts Bruce and grants Bruce all of His powers so as to prove he can do a better job. The only limitations are that Bruce cannot tell people he is God, and he cannot interfere with
free will. Bruce uses his new-found omnipotent powers for personal gain — he gets revenge on a street gang that assaulted him earlier in the film, acquires a
Saleen S7 sports car, gets his job back by uncovering the corpse of
Jimmy Hoffa and makes his girlfriend's breasts bigger. However, he is routinely bothered by a cacophony of voices which only he can hear.
Bruce uses God's powers to gain the reputation "Mr. Exclusive" by causing exciting news, such as a meteor impact, to occur whenever he is reporting. He also forces Evan to humiliate himself on air, and Evan is removed as anchor in favor of Bruce. Bruce takes Grace to dinner to tell her this, and Grace is disappointed as she was expecting him to propose. As Bruce is once again overwhelmed by voices, God appears to him and tells Bruce the voices are prayers, and will continue to build up if not answered. He also confronts Bruce on using his powers for personal gain and not helping people. Reading the prayers in the form of e-mails, Bruce attempts to answer them individually, but discovers he is receiving prayers faster than he can respond. Bruce decides to set his e-mail account to automatically answer "yes" to all prayers, assuming this will make everyone happy.
At a party to celebrate his promotion, Bruce attempts to call Grace to get her to come but she doesn't pick up. However, when Grace arrives, Bruce is then seduced by Susan who passionately kisses him. Grace witnesses this and leaves him. Bruce tries to use his powers to win her back but cannot, as he is not allowed to interfere with free will. Bruce finds that his abuse of his powers have consequences: some people take the meteor impact and other phenomena as signs of the apocalypse while others are outraged over thousands winning the lottery—resulting in each person only winning around $17—and a riot breaks out in the city. Brought before God again, Bruce protests that he only gave people what they wanted, and God tells Bruce that people need to stop looking to him for answers. Bruce begins to solve the problems in his life practically, and helps people personally, such as a homeless man who has appeared to him at times holding philosophical signs. That evening, Bruce decides to look at the prayers Grace has sent and discovers she continually prayed for his success and well-being. As a new prayer begins to arrive, Bruce goes to witness Grace praying in person, and hears her wishing to not be in love with him any more so she will stop hurting.
Depressed, Bruce walks on to a highway and submits to God, asking him to take back his powers and trusting him with his (Bruce's) fate. Bruce is suddenly struck by a truck and is brought before God in a white void. God asks Bruce what he really wants, and assuming he is dead, Bruce asks that Grace find a man who may make her truly happy and see her through God's eyes, even if it is not Bruce. God agrees and revives Bruce, who wakes up in the hospital to be told "someone up there" favors him. Bruce and Grace reconcile and become engaged, and Bruce gives Evan the anchor position back, going back to his old unglamorous stories and taking a new delight in them. The ending scene features a slow close-up of the homeless man, whose image morphs slightly and he is revealed to be God.
Cast
Reception
The movie received mixed reviews with a score of 49% on
Rotten Tomatoes based on 181 reviews
[3] and a
weighted average score of 46 out of 100 on
Metacritic.
[4] It received a B rating at
Box Office Mojo and a score of 6.5 on Internet Movie Database. 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).
Original screenwriters Mark O'Keefe and Steve Koren wrote
Bruce Almighty as an original spec script and put it on the open market. Universal Studios immediately bought the original script. As with every major blockbuster, several sources came forward seeking post success credit.
[citation needed]Robert Bausch, the author of
Almighty Me, contends that his book was the creative source for this film.
[5]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).
[6][7][8] 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.
[9]The film caused controversy because God contacts Bruce using an actual phone number rather than a number in the standard fictional
555 telephone exchange. Several people and groups sharing this number have received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to talk to God. The producers note that the number chosen was not in use in the area code (
716, which was never specified on screen) the film is set in, but did not check anywhere else. The home video and television versions changed it to the fictional 555.
[10] Related films
On June 22, 2007, a sequel to
Bruce Almighty entitled
Evan Almighty was released, with
Steve Carell reprising to his role as Evan Baxter and
Morgan Freeman returning to his role as
God. Although
Bruce Almighty director
Tom Shadyac returned to direct the sequel, neither
Jim Carrey nor
Jennifer Aniston was involved with the film, though Carrey's character, Bruce, is mentioned in the new film's teaser trailer. The sequel was not as well received as the predecessor, being given a 23% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes and a rating of 37/100 on
MetaCritic.
The 2008
Hindi film God Tussi Great Ho is an adaptation of
Bruce Almighty and almost every aspect of the original is used. The film stars
Salman Khan as the protagonist and
Amitabh Bachchan as God.
The 2009
Malayalam film Angel John was also an adaptation of
Bruce Almighty. The film stars
Mohanlal as the God and
Shanthnoo Bhagyaraj as the protagonist.
Another
Tamil film,
Arai En 305-il Kadavul, which stars
Santhanam as the protagonist and
Prakash Raj as God, incorporates several story elements from
Bruce Almighty. One exception is that, in the Tamil film, the protagonist steals God's powers rather than being gifted with them.
Soundtrack
Tracklist
- "One of Us" - Joan Osborne
- "God-Shaped-Hole" - Plumb
- "You're a God" - Vertical Horizon
- "The Power" - Snap!
- "A Little Less Conversation" - Elvis vs. JXL
- "The Rockafeller Skank" - Fatboy Slim
- "God Gave Me Everything" - Mick Jagger featuring Lenny Kravitz
- "AB Positive"
- "Walking on Water"
- "Seventh at Seven"
- "Bruce Meets God"
- "Bruce's Prayer"
- "Grace's Prayer"
- "God's Prayer"
Tracks 9-14 are from the score composed by
John Debney, performed by the
Hollywood Studio Symphony (conducted by Pete Anthony) with Brad Dechter and Sandy De Crescent.
[edit] SequelMain article:
Evan Almighty[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Box Office Mojo - Bruce Almighty". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=brucealmighty.htm.
- ^ "Bruce Blesses Memorial Weekend with $85.7 Million". http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1246&p=.htm.
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes on Bruce Almighty
- ^ Metacritic on Bruce Almighty
- ^ "Robert Bausch - Almighty Me!". http://www.robertbausch.org/work3.htm.
- ^ "Middle East Online". http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=7703.
- ^ "Bruce Almighty (2003) - Trivia". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315327/trivia.
- ^ "Malaysian Muslims call for ban on movie, AFP, Fri July 13, 2007". http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NTEyMjkzNTUx.
- ^ Karl Vick (June 25, 2006). "Misreading Tehran". Washington Post. p. B01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/23/AR2006062301373_pf.html. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
- ^ "Bruce Almighty". Joe does the Movies. http://www.joeclark.org/access/cinema/reviews/brucealmighty.html.
- ^ Phares, Heather. "Review: Bruce Almighty: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r643556. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
[edit] External links<TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; COLOR: inherit" id=collapsibleTable0 class="nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse" cellSpacing=0>
<TR> [hide]v · d · eFilms directed by Tom Shadyac</TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 2px"> <td></TD></TR> <TR> <td class=navbox-group>1990s</TD> <td style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-LEFT: 2px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class="navbox-list navbox-odd">Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) · The Nutty Professor (1996) · Liar Liar (1997) · Patch Adams (1998) </TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 2px"> <td></TD></TR> <TR> <td class=navbox-group>2000s</TD> <td style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-LEFT: 2px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class="navbox-list navbox-even">Dragonfly (2002) · Bruce Almighty (2003) · Evan Almighty (2007) </TD></TR> <TR style="HEIGHT: 2px"> <td></TD></TR> <TR> <td class=navbox-group>2010s</TD> <td style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-LEFT: 2px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class="navbox-list navbox-odd">I Am (2011) </TD></TR></TABLE> |
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