We, here at dirtydish pride ourselves on the fact that we are beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful women. We’d probably like for you to think we only go to documentaries, art films and foreign films, but let’s face it. That would be a straight-up lie. I’m a total goofball, so when an opportunity to see Evan Almighty for free presented itself, I jumped on it. Now I don’t claim to be a legitimate film critic by any means, but here’s what I thought.
Evan Almighty is the sequel to Tom Shadyac’s 2003 comedy, Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey as Bruce and Morgan Freeman as God. Steve Carell had a much smaller role as Bruce’s co-worker/rival, Evan. Carell reprises his role as Evan in the new film, only he has moved on from his former job as a news anchor, taking our nation’s capital by storm as New York’s newest representative in congress and promising to “change the world.” All seems to be going well for Evan until God (Morgan Feeman) comes to him and tells him to build an ark. Everyone thinks he’s crazy, there are lots of animals, yada, yada, yada. Lauren Graham (of Gilmore Girls fame) plays Evan’s wife, and John Goodman, Wanda Sykes and John Michael Higgins also make significant appearances in the film.
I was worried going into this movie, just as I was going into Bruce Almighty, that they were going to just horribly misrepresent God, and I was pleasantly surprised that they got at least one aspect of Him right on the money. The overriding message of the movie was that God loves us, and everything He does, He does because He loves us. Even the things that make us feel like God's out to get us are actually happening because of His love for us. And when everything's just going crazy in his life, Evan expresses perfectly what most of us have felt at some point when he says, "I know you do everything because you love me. Could you love me a little less?" But in the end, he sees the point of everything he went through, and it all makes sense, and it turns out that everything God did actually was for Evan's good and the good of his family (and the world, if you really think about it).
I also liked how they explored a pretty typical American opinion; that is, everyone should pray, but if you claim God talks back to you, you're a nut job. We all, on occasion, ask for God's help, provision, intervention, etc., but we don't like how he goes about helping, providing or intervening for us, so we continue trying to do it ourselves and complaining about "Where was God when I needed him?"
We also scheme and plan and work out every little detail, but if God wants to change something, we’ll have none of it, claiming that “it’s just not fair.” But when we’ve got nothing – no plan, no clue really – we pout at God asking why He hasn’t revealed His will to us. Well there's one part in the movie where Evan starts talking about the ark not fitting into his plans, and God, upon hearing of all Evan's plans, just starts cracking up. It’s so genuine that it really puts things into perspective as far as our human plans go. And I have to say...I love Morgan Freeman as God. I just do.
I just have a few criticisms.
The whole white hair/long beard gag was a little too Santa Clause for me, but I think they did it because God was trying to get Evan to stop caring so much about his appearance. And it turned out to be unnecessary for all the animals to come to him two-by-two, but God was trying to get him to stop thinking of animals as being dirty, AND it made for some really funny scenes.
They made it seem like all God wants is for us to be nice to each other. There was a big, cheesy push for Acts of Random Kindness (get it? ARK), and that's a great way to live. I just think there's more to it than that. Why should we be nice to each other? And where do we find the love and patience for it? Is there a greater goal in life than that? And if so, what is it?
And none of us were really buying Lorelai Gilmore as a politician's wife. She was just a little too hip in style to be in politics, but a litle too Stepford as a wife to be that hip. She came around some in the end and made a little more sense as a character, but she never quite made it to realistic.
Over all, though, it was enjoyable movie experience for me. It was thought- and conversation-provoking, and Steve Carell is just fabulous with physical comedy. The scene when all the animals start following him and the sheep are in the back of the Hummer...hilarious. Check it out at some point, even if you wait for it to go to the $1.50 theater or to DVD. In my humble opinion, it's worth the hour and a half of your life.
Evan Almighty is the sequel to Tom Shadyac’s 2003 comedy, Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey as Bruce and Morgan Freeman as God. Steve Carell had a much smaller role as Bruce’s co-worker/rival, Evan. Carell reprises his role as Evan in the new film, only he has moved on from his former job as a news anchor, taking our nation’s capital by storm as New York’s newest representative in congress and promising to “change the world.” All seems to be going well for Evan until God (Morgan Feeman) comes to him and tells him to build an ark. Everyone thinks he’s crazy, there are lots of animals, yada, yada, yada. Lauren Graham (of Gilmore Girls fame) plays Evan’s wife, and John Goodman, Wanda Sykes and John Michael Higgins also make significant appearances in the film.
I was worried going into this movie, just as I was going into Bruce Almighty, that they were going to just horribly misrepresent God, and I was pleasantly surprised that they got at least one aspect of Him right on the money. The overriding message of the movie was that God loves us, and everything He does, He does because He loves us. Even the things that make us feel like God's out to get us are actually happening because of His love for us. And when everything's just going crazy in his life, Evan expresses perfectly what most of us have felt at some point when he says, "I know you do everything because you love me. Could you love me a little less?" But in the end, he sees the point of everything he went through, and it all makes sense, and it turns out that everything God did actually was for Evan's good and the good of his family (and the world, if you really think about it).
I also liked how they explored a pretty typical American opinion; that is, everyone should pray, but if you claim God talks back to you, you're a nut job. We all, on occasion, ask for God's help, provision, intervention, etc., but we don't like how he goes about helping, providing or intervening for us, so we continue trying to do it ourselves and complaining about "Where was God when I needed him?"
We also scheme and plan and work out every little detail, but if God wants to change something, we’ll have none of it, claiming that “it’s just not fair.” But when we’ve got nothing – no plan, no clue really – we pout at God asking why He hasn’t revealed His will to us. Well there's one part in the movie where Evan starts talking about the ark not fitting into his plans, and God, upon hearing of all Evan's plans, just starts cracking up. It’s so genuine that it really puts things into perspective as far as our human plans go. And I have to say...I love Morgan Freeman as God. I just do.
I just have a few criticisms.
The whole white hair/long beard gag was a little too Santa Clause for me, but I think they did it because God was trying to get Evan to stop caring so much about his appearance. And it turned out to be unnecessary for all the animals to come to him two-by-two, but God was trying to get him to stop thinking of animals as being dirty, AND it made for some really funny scenes.
They made it seem like all God wants is for us to be nice to each other. There was a big, cheesy push for Acts of Random Kindness (get it? ARK), and that's a great way to live. I just think there's more to it than that. Why should we be nice to each other? And where do we find the love and patience for it? Is there a greater goal in life than that? And if so, what is it?
And none of us were really buying Lorelai Gilmore as a politician's wife. She was just a little too hip in style to be in politics, but a litle too Stepford as a wife to be that hip. She came around some in the end and made a little more sense as a character, but she never quite made it to realistic.
Over all, though, it was enjoyable movie experience for me. It was thought- and conversation-provoking, and Steve Carell is just fabulous with physical comedy. The scene when all the animals start following him and the sheep are in the back of the Hummer...hilarious. Check it out at some point, even if you wait for it to go to the $1.50 theater or to DVD. In my humble opinion, it's worth the hour and a half of your life.
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