And while "Evan Almighty" contains nothing more threatening than a bird do-do joke, it also lacks anything that could possibly be considered comedic punch. Now, before you say I'm damning a movie just because it's spiritual AND nice, let me point out to you that the film from which "Evan Almighty" came - "Bruce Almighty" - was spiritual and nice and had an edge, thanks to Jim Carrey. In that film, Carell played a rival TV anchorman who Carrey made a total fool of by misusing the powers of God.
In "Evan Almighty," Carell returns as Evan Baxter, who used his TV presence to get himself elected to Congress. His campaign theme? "Change the World.
" Like Carrey's claim in "Bruce Almighty" that he could do a better job than God, the real Almighty - again played with laidback ease by Morgan Freeman - takes that campaign slogan as a sort of challenge. That's how Congressman Baxter ends up being visited by God and given a mission - build an ark. Of course, Baxter doesn't buy into this - until animals (in pairs, of course) start following him around.
And then there's the facial hair thing. Baxter starts sprouting a beard that he can't trim no matter how many times he shaves. As Baxter starts going through these weird changes his family - already stressed by the move to Washington - starts to come unglued.
His three sons actually roll with dad's crazy new attitude, but wife Joan (Lauren Graham) just can't accept it when her husband tells her God has told him to build an ark. And Baxter's benefactor in the halls of Congress - Congressman Long (John Goodman) - starts worrying that Baxter's bizarre behavior is going to sink the bill he's trying to pass to open up some national park land for development. I mean, having a guy with long hair, a beard, wearing robes and being followed by wild animals just doesn't seem like he's really behind the idea of developing park lands.
With some divine intervention, Baxter's family gets behind him and pitches in to build the ark in preparation for a flood God has told Baxter all about. It's not like you don't know the Noah story, although "Evan Almighty" is not exactly like the biblical version. Suffice-it-to-say that crooked congressmen, illegal land development and acts of random kindness play into this modern version.
Goodman and Wanda Sykes as Baxter's congressional secretary put a little zing into their performances. The rest of the "Evan Almighty" cast really just act as human props in big scenes with lots of animals and, of course, water. The jokes are all obvious.
The pratfalls are too numerous to count. And Steve Carell - behind long white hair and beard - virtually disappears toward the end of "Evan Almighty." Not that there aren't some inspiring sights and notions to this biblical update.
It's just that the humor in "Evan Almighty" is - well - all wet. Craig Kopp can be seen on Fox19. Drop him a note at columns@communitypress.
com.
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