Evan has some laughs, but isn’t as Almighty as Bruce.
To be fair, compared to Bruce, God kinda screwed Evan.
Back in the holy year of 2003, God (Morgan Freeman) bestowed his incredible powers to an unlikely schlub named Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey). It was meant as a way of teaching Bruce a lesson about the intense demands of running the world, but still, it was a pretty cool way to do it. Bruce got to have a little fun before he learned about the downside (i.e. all those pesky people preying for his help each and every day).
Now God, who is apparently quite a fan of Buffalo local news, has returned to teach another lesson, this time in the form of the biblical story of Noah. Last movie, Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) was the foil to Bruce, but this time he’s the sympathetic hero.
How did that happen, you might ask? Well, director Tom Shadyac had planned a sequel with Carrey, but that project kept getting delayed. In the meantime, Steve Carell, who played Evan Baxter in Bruce Almighty, starred in the American Office TV show and The 40-Year-Old Virgin and became a mega-star. The solution? To heck with Carrey. Let’s make Evan Baxter the hero! 
So how can it be explained that the villain has become the hero? Well, in the past four years Mr. Baxter has been a busy boy. He’s cleaned up his act on TV, become a beloved local political figure and run for Congress. He’s now heading to Washington for his new, improved life. Also, although the trailer for Evan Allmighty includes a clip from the first film, the actual movie conveniently avoids the topic of Evan’s not-so-lakable character from the first movie.
But back to God, who has a sense of humor about this whole thing. He’s come down from the Heaven’s again and imparted the mortal Evan with the biblical task once held by Noah: Build an ark and rescue the animals and humans from an impending flood. Where Evan got screwed, however, is in the fact that, in order to do this, he’s going to look like a crackpot. Bruce got to play with the powers of God and Jennifer Aniston, but Evan gets to look like a deranged homeless man spreading the words of God on a street-side soapbox.
Well, maybe that’s his comeuppance for being such a jerk in the first movie.
Director Tom Shadyac returns to direct the sequel and a host of talented supporting players have joined the cast. Of course, Morgan Freeman returns as God; Lauren Graham is Evan’s wife; Wanda Sykes is Evan’s wise-cracking assistant, Rita; John Michael Higgins plays Evan’s advisor, Marty; John Goodman is the shady Congressman Long and this summer’s “it” boy, Jona Hill, plays the creepily devoted Eugene, who sees Baxter as his personal role model.
The set-up for Evan Almighty is very similar to the first film. Weird things start happening to Evan such as random animals following him through the streets of Washington, a box of antique tools showing up on his doorstep and a five o’ clock shadow that would make Matisyahu proud. Evan tries to ignore it all at first, but God’s persistence soon makes the task at hand unavoidable. As crazy as it might look, he’s got to build an ark and prepare for the flood.
The first problem with Evan Almighty is one many current comedies face: I already saw most of the funniest moments in the trailers, which started appearing months ago. That’s not to say that the always amusing Carell doesn’t deliver some extra humor, but the big jokes are mostly ones I knew were coming.
Evan Almighty also ranks as one of the most expensive comedies ever made, with a production budget rumored to be teetering around the $200 million mark. While special effects this elaborate seem to be a prerequisite for the summer movie season, it feels almost as if some of the focus that should have been aimed at story and humor was instead moved towards the staggering effects of building and setting afloat a gigantic ark. While that short moment is undoubtedly cool, it’s not the reason I’d imagine most people will pay their money to see the movie this weekend. They want to laugh, and on that note, Evan feels a bit flat. The sleeper smash comedy, Knocked Up, by comparison, delivers on the laughs and cost a rather meager $30 million.
Where Bruce was a cut above standard family comedy fare; Evan lies squarely in the middle ground. It follows the standard rules of a mainstream comedy and there are few surprises. The story is lifeless and the only thing keeping it from being a complete and utter mess is the talented cast. Although I quickly lost interest in story and plot, I was intermittently entertained by Carell, Higgins, Sykes and Hill. I just wished they were in a different, better movie.
You hear sportscasters talk about a great team lowering themselves to the level of their opponents and struggling with an inferior team. I use this analogy in reference to director Tom Shadyac. While I won’t refer to him as a great director, he’s certainly a competent one capable of delivering what audiences want and making studios a bundle in doing so. He has tapped into that ability on Ace Ventura, Nutty Professorand the aforementioned Bruce Almighty. On the other hand, however, this is the guy who directed the loathsome Patch Adams, the forgettable Dragonfly and the forgotten TV movie Platonically Incorrect.
Evan Almighty isn’t bad nor is it good, it’s just so-so. It feels like Shadyac phoned it in a bit and, with the massive PR campaign behind it, the popularity of the first movie and the hot streak of Steve Carell, it’s probably going to hit pretty big this weekend. The drop-off will likely be a quick one though, led by a poor word of mouth not because people hated it, but just because it was so generic they forgot they saw it.
ReelzChannel Rating: 