Carrey portrays Buffalo "news" reporter Bruce Nolan, who finds that his beat is becoming more and more of the quirky, human interest stories that feature such wonderful folk as a nose-picking Russian émigré baker. Up for an anchor position, Nolan gets the bad news that rival Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) has been hired for the job, news that is delivered to Nolan via an audio feed just seconds before he's to go live on a remote shot from Niagara Falls (one of the few unconvincing process shots in this film). Bruce, who's had a string of bad luck, completely loses it on camera, leading of course to his firing by the station, and a falling out with his girlfriend (the criminally underutilized Jennifer Aniston). Nolan then engages in a sort of cosmic pity party, decrying God's evident campaign to deprive him of any shred of happiness. I won't completely spoil what happens next for those of you who haven't yet seen the film, but suffice it to say Bruce's heavenly rant is answered in an unexpected fashion by the Deity (a marvelous Morgan Freeman), who gives Bruce some of His omnipotence (at least in limited doses).

What Bruce Almighty does very well is paint a nicely comedic picture that I think most everyone who has ever questioned why they're going through whatever they're going through will be able to relate to. Who among us hasn't at least occasionally shaken their fist at the sky and asked an invisible presence why they have it out for us in particular? Carrey does a fine, if predictably manic, job at portraying Bruce's growing frustration and rage as one thing after another goes wrong in his life. Shadyac does good work balancing the underlying angst of the premise with a penchant for unforced comedy (yes, I did just write "unforced comedy" in reference to a Jim Carrey film).

What the film doesn't do well is what ultimately sinks a lot of Carrey vehicles--Bruce Almighty lets Carrey have free reign a lot of the time, and his incessant schtick wears awfully thin after a while. We get yet another new catchphrase ("That's good," with "good" sort of burped out), lots of rubber-faced mugging, and that typical hyperbolic style that defines so much of Carrey's work. It completely nullifies any serious intent the film may have, but more importantly it makes the film veer uneasily style wise between a sort of pleasant Groundhog Day thoughtfulness and the completely unbridled insanity of The Mask.

Bruce Almighty does do a relatively subtle job of weaving in references to other pop culture phenomena. We get a smattering of Joan Osborne's song "What if God Was One of Us?" (something the film actually depicts in the final moments), an early visual reference to It's a Wonderful Life, which is followed up later when Aniston actually watches a scene from the film on television, and, lo and behold, Tony Bennett himself singing "If I Ruled the World." These extra-curricular references universalize (no pun intended) Bruce Almighty at least a bit, helping to generalize the underlying idea of the film, which is, in fact, a sort of mirror image of Wonderful Life: even if you had the power to completely change your life, things might not end up any better, and indeed might become substantially worse.

In a way, Bruce Almighty the film and Bruce Nolan the character are perfect for Carrey, an actor who seems self-absorbed to the point of psychosis at times. Nolan is an insufferable egotist, someone who is convinced it's "all about him," and Carrey, as unfair as it may be to say so, watching from the "outside," as it were, seems to live by that seem creed. It's to Carrey's credit therefore that he actually injects a little humanity into the character, and shows some surprising vulnerability at times throughout the film. The fact is, though, that despite Carrey's nonstop mugging, the film finds its funniest moments in throwaway lines, like co-anchor Catherine Bell's delicious reading of her character's name, Susan Ortega. Sometimes it's in the smallest details that one can find evidence of at least a little divine intervention.

The Blu-ray

Video:
Bruce Almighty arrives on BD with a VC-1 encode and an enhanced 1.85:1 OAR. The good news is this is a definite improvement over the SD-DVD. The bad news is, not by much. While detail is sharp (at least most of the time), and colors good, I couldn't help but wonder if our old "friend" DNR was showing on the Botox-like skintones. While color is generally good to excellent, nothing really pops off the screen the way it should in a stellar BD. The fleeting CGI and special effects shots do look quite wonderful, however. Definitely a mixed bag.

Sound:
There's really not a whole heck of a lot to work with in the source elements of this sound mix, and the DTS HD-MA 5.1 does what it can in that regard. Again, things are certainly good, simply not exceptional. I was surprised by how little the surround channels were used at times--certainly ambient noises crept into them, but some of the more important sound effects were repeatedly lodged front and center. Dialogue is crisp and clear and underscore is reproduced with good fidelity. French and Spanish DTS 5.1 mixes are also available, as are subtitles in all soundtrack languages.

Extras:
Universal seems to not realize they can include quite a bit on BDs. Once again, we get a pretty run of the mill commentary by Shadyac, a short promo film on Carrey, outtakes/bloopers, and about a half hour of deleted scenes (with optional commentary). Aside from some very minimal BD Live content (none linked to this film, at least that I could find), that's it--and that's some pretty paltry pickings, if you ask me.

Final Thoughts:
Bruce Almighty is alternately sweet, amusing, thoughtful and annoying--much like its star, Jim Carrey. If you're a Carrey fan and like this film, you'll probably want to own it, despite its lackluster BD debut. Otherwise, Rent It.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet