Bruce Almighty (original) (raw)

Bruce Almighty is a 2003 comedy/fantasy movie directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk.

The protagonist, Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a TV news reporter who fails to get a job as an anchorman and, after a series of other bad luck incidents, complains to God that he is treating him unfairly and is doing a terrible job as supreme deity. Carrey is then contacted by God (Morgan Freeman) and endowed with almighty powers to prove that he can do a better job. Bruce quickly abuses his newfound powers for personal gain, only to be reminded that he also has to take care of other people's problems. Meanwhile, Bruce endangers his relationship with girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston) through his self-centered behavior.

In typical Hollywood style, the God in Bruce Almighty seems to be of no particular denomination; theological questions such as the existence of hell or the second coming of Jesus are not discussed. The movie seems to explicitly reject traditional Catholicism, however -- when Bruce rhetorically asks whether God ever takes a vacation, God responds: "Ever heard of the Dark Ages?"

Issues like omnipotence and omniscience are not explored in any detail, and most of Bruce's actions as God are limited to the area of Buffalo, New York. The universe in Bruce Almighty seems to be entirely centered around planet Earth, as is vividly illustrated by a scene where Bruce adds a few stars to the sky and removes some others -- not suns, but merely decorations for his moonlight rendezvous. The existence of God is taken for granted in the entire movie, even before God contacts the protagonist and removes all doubt. Supernatural events, on the other hand, appear to leave little impression on the population of Bruce's world.

Bruce Almighty is a simple comedy which does not examine its premise, but instead merely uses it for some jokes and the final philosophical revelation of the film, which could be summarized as "salvation comes from within".

The film caused controversy because God contacts Bruce using an actual phone number rather than a number in the standard fictional 555 exchange. Several people and groups sharing this number have received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to talk to God.