Movie Review: Even Almighty

EVAN ALMIGHTY (2007)

* (OUT OF FOUR)

Evan Almighty isn't a bad film so much as it's overwhelmingly average. Now officially the most expensive comedy of all time (weighing in at a little over $175 million - wrap your lips around that!), it will probably accomplish exactly what the studio intended as they continuously threw more and more money at this bloated, over-played disaster/comedy hybrid. Get the family out for something safe (as there's nothing here to offend anyone on any side of the fence) and make sure it's utterly forgettable so they don't skip over it at Blockbuster once the DVD is released. That actually seems to be a common occurrence these days; you pick up a DVD and have to think to yourself, "Did I see this?" Not because you're too stupid to remember, but because most every film produced today that's genre driven and aimed at a particularly large audience (especially the family market) follows the same blueprint of mediocrity.

Stepping away from this mediocre life as a local newscaster, Evan Baxter (Steve Carell, who's done far better work than we see here) has been elected into Congress and packs up the family for a big move to Capitol Hill. His campaign slogan is "we can change the world" and when he prays the night before his first day in office to do just that, he receives his answer in form of biblical references/hints: the first of which is his GENeral Electric alarm clock that starts going off every morning at 6:14. After a mysterious package filled with old-fashioned building tools arrives and a delivery man drops off a couple of pallets of wood, Even begins questioning the oddity and is visited by none other than God himself (Morgan Freeman), who commands Evan to build an ark.

Of course persuasion is needed: slowly but surely pairs of animals begin following Evan around (at first it's simply cats, dogs, squirrels, birds, etc.), the number '614' turns up everywhere, his beard and hair grow at an incredible speed and are impervious to shaving ("adult puberty" Evan calls it), and God makes himself visible to Evan at nearly every corner. Eventually, Evan draws heat from his colleagues at work from both his appearance and many embarrassing sight gags involving his new found animal friends, especially the film's one-dimensional antagonist Congressman Long (John Goodman), who's depending on Evan's help in sponsoring a new Land Act Bill.

The film feels completely off-balance. The screenplay is mostly predictable but shows flashes of hope every now and again, maybe just enough to keep things somewhat interesting. The actors seem particularly inspired at times and completely wooden at others which has a big influence on why the comedy is so hit or miss and why the serious moments vary between passable and just plain cheesy. I'm reminded of an amusing sight gag where Evan accidentally whacks him thumb with a square, wooden hammer for obvious reasons only to have the shot repeated no less than five times throughout a montage of his building struggles. The filmmakers clearly had no clue as what was good about the movie and what was not, as the meticulously crafted bad moments (like Evan losing his clothes on the House floor immediately followed by an extended sequence of birds and wild animals storming through an open widow) completely overshadow the good ones - like when God, posing as a waiter, has a quick sit-down with Evan's wife at a restaurant, which felt completely rushed as if it were only there to fill out the running time. There's noting to really hate about Evan Almighty, but it's not an acceptable substitute for not giving us much to admire, either. - Brandon Nease