Bruce Almighty

I rented "Bruce Almighty" from the apartment's main office this afternoon, since I wanted to test a DVD on my new DVD player. The good news is that a) the DVD player works beautifully and b) I didn't actually spend money on "Bruce Almighty." The bad news is "Bruce Almighty" is ninety minutes of my life I will never get back. My verdict on Jim Carrey being one of the most annoying actors around stands. Throughout the whole movie, I was thinking, "I should have gotten Chicago instead." Heck, they even had X2 and even the fifth time through that movie would be more amusing than the first time through "Bruce Almighty."

The thing about "Bruce," it mostly features Jim Carrey (now abbreviated as JC) making facial contortions at the screen. At best, motivations are weak, self-serving and there's a lot of leap of faiths and moments of "where did that come from?" I didn't laugh once. Not once. The dog joke? Not. Funny. JC? Not funny. Making faces at the camera doesn't constitute good acting and certainly cannot lift a weak script up. Even Jennifer Aniston was not as good as she could have been (I kept wondering what her character, Grace, was doing with a goofball like JC's Bruce -- I'd have knocked Bruce on his keister already, he was so annoying). Catherine Bell was also there, starring as the co-news anchor, and maybe it's just my current "JAG" phase, but she was the least annoying member of the cast. Along with Morgan Freeman, he was okay starring as God.

The problem with Jim Carrey is when he attempts to play serious or deep, you can't take him seriously at all. I expected, during his 'reformation' period in the film, to pull some kind of gag or facial expression. Maybe that's the point that he doesn't, but it's like, he's got this image so completely sewn up that if he tries anything else at all, even if he wants to be sincere, he doesn't come across that way.

Definitely a thumb's down movie.