Evan Already

Evan Almighty opens tomorrow. You'll find a review on our Movies page sometime in the next few days. Director Tom Shadyac -- who also headed Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and Patch Adams -- is becoming known in the Christian community as a director of biblically flavored comedies.

We're reserving judgment on Evan until we see it, but this new Shadyac Q&A on ChristianityToday Movies is interesting. I love the idea of telling a hilarious story as a "spiritual act."

Do you have any kind of a personal mission statement?

Shadyac: I want to be a servant of the higher idea. And my particular way is to use laughter to break down walls, so you can tell stories that engage. I won't make a movie just for entertainment value. There's validity to that, but I'm looking to do something else.

It's a highly spiritual act to tell a hysterical story. If you create laughter, I think you've created something very spiritual. You've for a second brought people back into a childlike state. That's a high calling. But I want a movie to have another layer that engages people in thought, discussion.

The movie is being promoted by Universal, in part, through a faith-based PR firm's web site that offers churches an online tool for reaching out to people in their community who are in need of help. We're on record in this blog as being a little skeptical about the connection between movie marketing and church outreach. Here's an article on CT's site breaking down exactly how well the Ark Almighty site is working at one church in Missouri, thank you very much. (Still, does anyone else have a problem with the idea of "random" acts of kindness? Sounds like these folks are doing very thoughtful and intentional acts of kindness. Minor quibble.)

Let us know what you end up thinking of the movie, the marketing, and the messages. And tune in by early next week to see how it plays out for Steven Harrell, our reviewer.