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As a younger man, I admit I never saw that quality. The B-52's Fred Schneider, for example — there's a man who invites the term "annoying" upon himself. Simply being forced into his company for an extended time would be, for me, a horrifying conception of Hell. (Doubly so if he started shrieking the bridge from "Love Shack" with that campy, needlessly enthusiastic delivery of his. When I hear him bawl "It's as big as a whale, and it's about! To set! Saaaail!" he reminds me of an idiot man-child crossed with a gay stereo salesman, wrapped up in a tacky pastel suit with the sleeves rolled up. He never fails to annoy, is my point.) But Carrey? Well, at age fifteen, I just wasn't seeing it. "Over the top," I might have agreed to. "Tries too hard," had you put the claim forward, would have been met with unhesitating consent. But throughout my teens, when I piled my carcass into theaters to watch the rubber-faced one's exploits in Ace Ventura, Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls, The Mask and others, I would never have called a man who brought so much joy an annoyance. Many years have passed since Nature Called for Ace Ventura, and with the passage of these years, I have begun to realize that all those people might have had a point all along. This was brought home to me a little while ago, when I happened to catch a rerun of Ace Ventura on television. It suddenly occurred to me, as I watched Ace bellow catchphrases out of his anus, that I might not have been as discriminating in my cinema as I could have been. Luckily, Carrey's also matured over the years, and has occasionally dished out intelligent, challenging films (Truman Show, Man on the Moon) in between his more blatantly retarded efforts (Me, Myself & Irene, Liar Liar). Given both the high concept premise and poop jokes presented in Bruce Almighty's trailer, it's hard to tell which this one's going to be. (There's certainly the potential, anyway, for some intelligent comedy in the vein of Groundhog Day or The Truman Show.)
Several years ago, I had an idea for a screenplay dealing with this exact premise. It didn't involve the Man from Glad, unfortunately (I don't have this screenwriter's vision), but it did deal with a regular Joe getting god-like powers. I'm don't mean to imply that the makers of Bruce Almighty stole my idea — simply that I had the idea too. I ultimately didn't write the screenplay, since I couldn't figure out a plausible way to give my hero omnipotent powers that wouldn't insult the audience (the best I'd come up with involved aliens or something, I think). Judging from the trailer, Bruce Almighty is savvy enough to sidestep the issue entirely. Here, God just sort of drops by for no discernable reason, then gives powers to someone — also, seemingly, for no reason — for a completely arbitrary period of time. Wish I'd thought of that. What will Bruce do with these powers? The trailer poses the question in such a way that, when the answer comes a second later, it is admittedly very funny. Snap's "The Power" blares on the soundtrack, Jim Carrey lip-syncs to it, and he struts down the street like Crumb's Mr. Natural. (Meanwhile, unemployed rapper Turbo B climbs out of his dumpster and rejoices at the flow of royalties.) Testing out his powers, Carrey blows up a fire hydrant just by shooting gun fingers at it. Damaging vital parts of firefighting infrastructure isn't the first thing I'd do with unlimited powers — if I were Carrey, I'd immediately erase Batman Forever from human memory — but it nicely encapsulates the idea that most folks would sooner abuse such a power than use it wisely. I know which camp I'd fall into. ("What's that, Heather Graham? You find me irresistible? I understand. Come in.") After this, the trailer flags a tad, as we're hit with gags about dogs pooping while reading newspapers, Bruce using his omnipotence to become instantly naked, and the mysteriously increased size of Jennifer Aniston's boobs. (If Aniston was ever considering breast implants, Bruce Almighty is her perfect excuse to pass it off as the equivalent of Robert DeNiro gaining forty pounds to play Jake LaMotta, getting critical acclaim in the process. Maybe even a tax write-off, I'm not sure how that works.) While Carrey doesn't divinely reroute his own vocal cords to more clearly enunciate out of his buttocks, it nonetheless begins to look suspiciously like his usual dumb fare as Bruce Almighty comes to a close. This being a trailer, it's possible they just crammed in the lower-brow stuff to lure in the meatheads, saving the more intelligent investigations into the responsibilities and possibilities of omnipotence for the feature film. I hope so. I'd hate to think I missed out on a chance to write my own movie about receiving the powers of God, only to watch the premise get reduced to a dog pinching off one on the toilet.
RATING:
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Over
the years, caring friends with concern for my welfare have put forward
the suggestion that I stop watching Jim Carrey films, on the grounds
that he is the most annoying man alive.
Our
trailer begins with the Man from Glad (Morgan Freeman) offering Bruce
omnipotent powers for the timeframe of a week, simply for watching a
demonstration on the locked-in freshness capabilities of Glad's FreshProtect®
Food Storage Bags. (And kids will love the Yellow And Blue Make Green®
freshness seal!) It is also revealed that the Man from Glad is God.
It's left ambiguous which one is the day job.