Bruce Almighty
Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and some crude humor.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
A movie about Jim Carrey becoming God? I was ready to be angry at what seemed sure to be a belittling of God’s character and holiness for cheap laughs. And the film does do some of that. However, “Bruce Almighty” is ultimately surprisingly respectful of at least the idea of God. That’s not to say its biblical. But for an often goofy comedy, it leaves the door wide open for conversations about who God is and how we can know Him.
The Story
Carrey stars as Bruce Nolan, a TV news reporter who specializes in silly, sappy community stories. When the anchor position he has longed for goes to someone else, Bruce comes unglued. He sees every bad thing in his life as evidence that God is not doing His job. After alienating his live-in girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston) with his self-focused self-pity, he loudly challenges God to show Himself.
Bruce ends up following a mysterious lead to a warehouse labeled Omni Presents, Inc. He meets a man (Morgan Freeman) who eventually reveals Himself to be God and gives Bruce all His powers so Bruce can show that he can do it better. With all that power, will Bruce be able to make his own life better? Will he be able to save his relationship with Grace? And what about all those people who are praying for God’s help?
The Verdict
However thoughtful the subject matter here, “Bruce Almighty” is not intended to be part drama as “The Truman Show” and “The Majestic” were. It’s definitely meant to be silly/funny in the spirit of “Liar, Liar.” It includes Carrey’s trademark rubber face-making, body-warping movements, and a couple of brand new catch phrases (this year’s “Alllllrighty Then”).
While that manic Carrey goofiness does provide some big laughs, the energy level is toned down from the days of “Dumb and Dumber” and “Ace Ventura.” Occasionally, it feels like he’s trying too hard, especially when he keeps saying, “It’s good. It’s <I>good</I>.” He’s most funny when drunk with his new-found power, using it to get revenge on his enemies, seduce Grace, and make himself look good.
Unless you look at “Bruce Almighty” as an illustration of how dangerous a mere human with God’s power would be, it can definitely come across as offensive to the true God. I cringed when Bruce parted his red soup, walked on water, and called himself the Alpha and Omega. But the point of the story is that even with those powers, a human would make a lousy God. Only God can handle God’s power wisely. (More on that below.)
Morgan Freeman remains mostly understated as God. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t call for him to talk in a booming voice or explain all his actions. Instead, Freeman plays the version of God that He shows to Bruce as an effortless and confident being holding Bruce accountable for his words and actions, but also ready to help him grow.
As Grace, Jennifer Aniston plays the sincere and concerned girlfriend, but little else. Nearly as funny as Carrey, Steven Carell gets far too little screen time as the jerk who gets the anchor job over Bruce. The scene where Bruce messes with Carell’s ability to talk on air might be the most laugh-out-loud funny in the whole film. (Be sure to stick around for the outtakes during the credits for more.)
“Bruce Almighty” earns it’s PG-13 rating with bad language, crude humor, and the pre-sex scene between Bruce and Grace that’s played for laughs but includes some erotic behavior between the unmarried couple.
Worldview [Warning: Spoilers Ahead]
The movie’s understanding of God and how humans can/should relate to Him provides several positive principles for biblical Christians. And even where it falls short of truth, “Bruce Almighty” provides an excellent opportunity to talk about God with non-Christian friends.
First the positives.
1) Bruce’s initial view of God is that it’s His job to make sure our lives are mostly happy and working well. Instead of taking responsibility for his own actions, Bruce blames God for everything he doesn’t like and gives God credit for nothing good in his life (James 1:17). Over the course of the film, however, Bruce learns that God’s goal is not to make sure everyone is happy and getting what they want (James 4:1-10). He also learns that we bring many of life’s worst things on ourselves through our selfishness.
2) As mentioned above, the movie also demonstrates that even with all of God’s power, we would not make good gods. I would not want to live in a world in which I had power over everything, because I am not, by nature, all good or all loving. Only God can be trusted with God’s power because only He is completely and unswervingly good.
3) Though some Christians would put this in the negative category, the movie shows that God does not force humans to love Him. Bruce learns that though he can use his power to do a lot for Grace, he can’t make her love him. She has to come to that on her own. God, of course, can do whatever He wants. But humans are ultimately held accountable for whether we accept or reject Him.
4) Amazingly for a Hollywood film, Bruce even comes to a place of sincere repentance. On his knees, he says something like, “I don’t want this anymore. I can’t do it on my own. I want you to decide what’s right and wrong for me. I surrender to you.” This is almost the definition of biblical repentance--turning from my way of living to God’s way for me and trusting Him to do as He pleases with me. Shocking and refreshing.
Now the negatives.
1) Like most Hollywood depictions of God, Jesus is never mentioned in the movie (except as a swear word). However, the Bible teaches that there is no way to have a relationship with God except through Jesus (John 14:6). We believe that surrendering to your own understanding of God is pointless without coming to Him through Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and eternity with the Father. Without Jesus, there is no real power to live the way God wants us to.
2) At one point, God says something like, “Most humans spend too much time looking up for help.” What Bruce learns from that is that humans need to focus on “making our own miracles” through right living and helping others. The Bible teaches exactly the opposite.
God’s goal for every Christian is that we become like Jesus. If you’ve read the book of John you’ve probably noticed that nearly every time Jesus talked, He said His words and His actions were from the Father. He was totally dependent on the Father. James wrote that God uses hard times in our lives to get us to depend on God more, not less. Total dependence equals total maturity (James 1:2-4).
Yes, God wants us to live right and love others, but He wants us to do it in His power and with His help (Galatians 5:22-23). Unlike the movie version of God, He’s not looking for us to learn to handle things on our own. Our strength to do right comes from Him through Jesus.
If you’re a Christian and you see or talk about this movie with friends, why not take the opportunity to ask what they believe about God and to share your own understanding of what the Bible teaches about a relationship with Him through Jesus. “Bruce Almighty” might give you a great opportunity to start a conversation that could take your relationship to a whole new level.
Discussion Questions
• Where do you think “Bruce” falls in the order of funny Jim Carrey movies?
• Did this movie surprise you? If so, how?
• Do you think “Bruce Almighty” is too offensive to the character of God to make it worth seeing? Why or why not?
• How do you think you would handle having all of God’s power for a few days?
• What do you believe is God’s ultimate goal for humans? What is that belief based on?
• Do you think the people in the movie who prayed were from any particular religion? If so, which one and why do you think that?
• Could you see yourself using this movie as a way to start a conversation about God with friends who may or may not be Christians?
Let us know what you thought of this review!