Bruce Almighty

Bruce Almighty
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tom Shadyac
Produced by	Tom Shadyac Jim Carrey[1] James D. Brubaker Michael Bostick Steve Koren Mark O'Keefe
Screenplay by	Steve Koren Mark O'Keefe Steve Oedekerk
Story by	Steve Koren Mark O'Keefe
Starring	Jim Carrey Morgan Freeman Jennifer Aniston Philip Baker Hall Lisa Ann Walter Catherine Bell Steve Carell
Music by	John Debney
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Edited by	Scott Hill
Production company	Spyglass Entertainment Shady Acres Pit Bull Productions[1]
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (US) Buena Vista International (International) [2][3]
Release date	May 14, 2003 (2003-05-14) (Hollywood) May 23, 2003 (2003-05-23) (United States)
Running time	101 minutes[4]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$81 million[5]
Box office	$484.6 million[5]

Bruce Almighty is a 2003 American fantasy 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 to God (Morgan Freeman) that he is not doing his job correctly, and is offered the chance to try being God himself for one week.

It is Shadyac and Carrey's third collaboration, having previously worked together on Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in 1994 and Liar Liar in 1997. It co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Ann Walter, Philip Baker Hall and Steve Carell, and received mixed reviews from critics.

When released in American theaters in May 2003 it opened to $85.9 million, making it the best Memorial Day opening weekend of any film in history at the time.^[6] The film surprised film pundits when it beat The Matrix Reloaded the following weekend. By the end of its theatrical run, it made $242 million domestically and a total $484 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 2003.

Evan Almighty, a spin-off sequel focusing on Carell's character, with Shadyac and Oedekerk returning to direct and write, and Freeman also reprising his role, was released in 2007.

Plot

Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television field reporter for Eyewitness News at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York, but desires to be the news anchorman instead. Bruce is in a relationship with his girlfriend, Grace Connelly (Jennifer Aniston), but he also has a mild crush on his co-worker, Susan Ortega (Catherine Bell). However, Bruce suffers from constant bad luck and reaches his breaking point when he is passed over for promotion by his rival, Evan Baxter (Steve Carell), who later steals dialogue from an unaired segment by Bruce while accepting the promotion on air. This causes Bruce himself to aggressively and insanely criticize the station during his first live report, and he is promptly fired. Following a series of other misfortunes (getting beaten up by a group of street thugs who vandalize his car, and later plowing his car into a street post), Bruce takes out his frustration on God, blaming Him and claiming that He is "the one who should be fired."

Bruce later receives a message on his pager directing him to an empty warehouse, where he meets God (Morgan Freeman). God offers to give Bruce His job to see if Bruce can do a better job. God gives Bruce two rules that he must follow: Bruce cannot tell anyone else that he is God, and Bruce cannot use his powers to interfere with free will. Initially, Bruce becomes jubilant with the powers, using them for personal gain such as getting revenge on the street gang that assaulted him earlier, transforming his clothes and his damaged car into a Saleen S7^[7] and sexually impressing Grace.

Bruce also finds ways of using the powers to cause miraculous events to occur at otherwise mundane events that he covers, such as discovering the body of Jimmy Hoffa, earning him his job back, and causing a meteor to harmlessly land near a Mark Twain-themed chili cook-off. Bruce, still wanting the anchor position as well as wanting to get revenge on Evan Baxter for taunting him, uses his powers to make Evan humiliate himself on air, causing Evan to be replaced in favor of Bruce as the new anchor.

After taking Grace to a fancy dinner and telling her about his promotion (disappointing her, as she thought he was going to propose), Bruce begins to hear voices in his head. He re-encounters God, who explains that the voices are prayers to God, and that Bruce must deal with them. Bruce creates an e-mail system to receive prayers and respond to them - but finds that the influx is far too great for him to handle, even with the use of his powers. So he sets the program to automatically answer "Yes" to every prayer, thinking this will make everyone happy.

During a party to celebrate Bruce's promotion, Susan seduces and kisses him. When Grace arrives and sees this, she angrily storms out; Bruce follows her, but she is heartbroken and won't listen to him. He tries to use his powers to convince Grace to stay, but cannot influence her free will. As Bruce looks around, he realizes that automatically granting everyone's prayers has plunged the city into chaos. Bruce returns to God, who explains that despite how chaotic things seem, there is always a way to make things right, and that Bruce must figure out a way to solve it himself. Bruce then begins to solve his problems in life practically, such as helping a man whose car has broken down, potty training his dog properly, and allowing Evan to have his job back.

Bruce returns to his computer system, having briefly unplugged it, and he finds many prayers from Grace about Bruce. As he reads them, another prayer from Grace arrives, this one wishing not to be in love with Bruce anymore. A despondent Bruce walks alone on a highway, asking God to take back His powers and letting his fate be in His hands. Bruce is suddenly struck by a truck and regains consciousness in a white void.

God appears and tells Bruce to pray for what he truly wants; Bruce prays for Grace to find a man that would make her happy. God agrees and Bruce finds himself in the hospital, shortly after being miraculously revived by the doctors. Grace arrives and the two reconcile. After his recovery, Bruce returns to his field of reporting, but takes more pleasure in simple stories. Bruce and Grace announce their engagement on live television during a 'Be the Miracle' blood drive. The film ends with a homeless man holding a sign with philosophical messages that Bruce previously ran into on various occasions finally revealing himself to be God.

Cast

Reception

Bruce Almighty received mixed reviews from critics. The film has a score of 49% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 188 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Carrey is hilarious in the slapstick scenes, but Bruce Almighty gets bogged down in treacle".^[8] The film also has a score of 46 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[9] The film was released in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2003, and topped the country's box office that weekend.^[10]

Awards and Nominations

Soundtrack

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[15]

The soundtrack was released on June 3, 2003 by Varèse Sarabande. Tracks 8-13 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.

Track listing

1. "One of Us" - Joan Osborne
2. "God Shaped Hole" - Plumb
3. "You're a God" - Vertical Horizon
4. "The Power" - Snap!
5. "A Little Less Conversation" - Elvis vs. JXL
6. "The Rockafeller Skank" - Fatboy Slim
7. "God Gave Me Everything" - Mick Jagger featuring Lenny Kravitz
8. "AB Positive"
9. "Walking on Water"
10. "Bruce Meets God"
11. "Bruce's Prayer"
12. "Grace's Prayer"
13. "Seventh at Seven"

Adaptations

• God Tussi Great Ho
• Evan Almighty, a follow-up film starring Steve Carell instead of Carrey

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Bruce Almighty

• Official website
• Bruce Almighty on IMDb
• Bruce Almighty at AllMovie
• Bruce Almighty at Box Office Mojo
• Bruce Almighty at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bruce Almighty at Metacritic