Bruce Almighty -- September 2003

GOD ON SCREEN

Patty: Hi, Mattie. Patty. I want to go to a good movie. Have you seen anything worthwhile this summer?

Mattie: Yeah, I’ve seen a few things, and there is one movie I can recommend — Bruce Almighty. At least it’s worth seeing and thinking about.

Mattie: Are you serious? I saw the previews of it and thought it looked sacrilegious.

Patty: I did too. But I felt different after I saw it. It’s really thought-provoking, especially for people of faith.

Mattie: How so?

Patty: Well, Jim Carrey plays Bruce, a TV reporter who never gets any good stories and is passed over when an anchor vacancy comes up. He’s really mad and does some speculating about how he’d change things if he were God. Pretty soon he gets a mysterious call on his cell phone telling him to come to an abandoned warehouse. He does, and whom does he meet? God. He’s there doing some janitorial work all by himself, which is a brilliant touch that shows His servant nature.

Mattie: What happens?

Patty: God grants Bruce the power to take over for Him for a certain period. He does this to show Bruce how complex prayer really is and how we should think carefully about what we pray for. There’s a hilarious scene where Bruce receives everyone’s prayers in the form of e-mail — and he has 3 1/2 million prayers to answer.

Mattie: It does sound kind of interesting. But I’m leery of seeing Jim Carrey in anything. He overdoes his acting — if you can call it that.

Patty: I agree; I don’t usually care for him in his comic roles. But when he actually takes the trouble to act, he’s a lot better — as in The Majestic. There were a couple of things about Bruce Almighty that troubled me, though.

Mattie: What were they?

Mattie: Well, for one thing, God, who’s played by Morgan Freeman, comes off far too much as Bruce’s buddy. God is supposed to be holy, isn’t He? The other thing is that Bruce and his girlfriend have been living together for a few years or so, and the movie seems to sanction that. She’s been praying for him to surrender himself to the Lord; he finally does this, and the implication is that their relationship will now have the right foundation. But that seems to say that everything we do is OK as long as we get God’s approval, no matter whether it’s after the fact or not. Bruce surrenders and loses his selfishness, but there’s nothing about owning up to his sins. That’s just my take on it, though. I’d like to hear some other reactions.

Patty: Hmm. Well, it does sound pretty interesting. All right, you’ve convinced me. I’ll go. Do you want to see it again?

Film Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 3 stars