Bruce Almighty

Bruce Nolan is a television field reporter for Eyewitness News on WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York, but desires to be the news anchorman. When Bruce is passed over for promotion by his rival, Evan Baxter, he becomes furious and goes ballistic on-air, leading to his dismissal from the station, followed by a series of misfortunes that include being attacked by a gang of thugs after coming to the aid of a homeless man outside the station and later crashing his car into a lightpole following an argument with his girlfriend, Grace Connelly. Bruce complains to God that "He's the one that should be fired, that He's not doing His job." Bruce receives a message on his pager the following morning, which takes him to an empty warehouse where he meets God. God offers to give Bruce his powers to prove that He is doing the job correctly. God tells Bruce that he cannot tell others he has God's powers, nor use said powers to mess with free will. Bruce is initially jubilant with the powers, using them for personal gain, such as by getting his job back after discovering Jimmy Hoffa's body and impressing both Grace and her sister, Debbie. Bruce finds ways of using his powers around Buffalo to cause miraculous events to occur at otherwise mundane events that he covers, such as causing a meteor to harmlessly land near a cook-off, earning the title "Mr. Exclusive" in the process. Bruce then causes Evan to embarrass himself on-air, causing Evan to be fired in favor of Bruce as the new co-anchor. During this, Bruce continues to hear voices in his head. He later re-encounters God, who explains the voices are prayers, meant for God, that Bruce must deal with. Bruce creates a computerized email-like system to receive the prayers and respond but finds that the influx is far too many for him to handle-- even though God has stated that Bruce is only receiving prayers from the Buffalo area-- and sets the program to answer every prayer Yes automatically. Bruce attends a party celebrating his promotion. When Grace arrives, she finds Bruce kissing his co-anchor, Susan Ortega, after she forcefully comes on to him and quickly leaves. Bruce follows her, trying to use his powers to convince her to stay but cannot influence her free will. As Bruce looks around, he realizes that Buffalo has fallen into chaos due to his actions: parts of the city believe the Apocalypse is nearly upon Earth due to the meteor strikes, while a large number of people, all having prayed to win the multi-million dollar lottery and finding they all won reducing their prize to $17, have started rioting in the streets. Bruce returns to God, who explains that He cannot solve all the problems and Bruce must figure out a way himself. Bruce returns to his computer system at his home and goes about answering prayers as best he can. As Bruce reads through them, he finds a prayer from Grace, wishing for his success and well-being. As Bruce reads it, another prayer from Grace arrives, this one wishing not to be in love with him anymore. Bruce is stunned and walks alone on a highway, asking God to take back his powers and letting his fate be in his hands. Bruce is suddenly hit by a truck and regains his consciousness in a white void. God appears and He asks Bruce what he really wants; Bruce admits that he only wants to make sure Grace finds a man that would make her happy. God agrees and Bruce finds himself in the hospital, where doctors have assisted in his recovery. Grace finally arrives. She and Bruce rekindle their relationship, later becoming engaged. Following his recovery, Bruce returns to his field reporting, but decides to take more pleasure in the simple stories.

Bruce Almighty received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 49% based on 189 reviews, with an average rating of 5.66/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Carrey is hilarious in the slapstick scenes, but Bruce Almighty gets bogged down in treacle."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[8] The film was released in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2003 and topped the country's box office that weekend.[9]

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. "Seventh at Seven"
11. "Bruce Meets God"
12. "Bruce's Prayer"
13. "Grace's Prayer"

• God Tussi Great Ho
• Evan Almighty, a follow-up film starring Steve Carell instead of Carrey
• The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, a spin-off documentary television series starring Morgan Freeman

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