Scooter Chronicles

Back on Saturday afternoon (if I remember correctly), Marcia and I watched “Evan Almighty” starring Steve Carell, and co-starring John Michael Higgins, Wanda Sykes, Jonah Hill, John Goodman, Lauren Graham, and of course Morgan Freeman.

For those of you that don’t know, this is a pseudo-sequel to “Bruce Almighty” in which God gives Buffalo news reporter Bruce Nolan his powers. This time around, Evan Baxter (Steve Carell), who was the new co-anchor of the station Bruce worked at, now is leaving the station for his new post as the US Representative for the Buffalo area, packing up and moving to Washington. However, his campaign slogan (”Let’s Change the World”) goes even further then expected when God (Morgan Freeman) asks him to build an ark. It is something that Evan can’t ignore, since he can’t shave his beard without it growing back instantly, and the continued hints and gifts from God.

Now, you can say (as I am) that there are issues with this. First of all, why “Evan Almighty”? Evan doesn’t take on the powers of God Almighty, and really has no power at all, other then having animals trailing after him in pairs (obviously). But we forgive the makers of the movie, because it needed that name to help marketing.

The second issue I had was with the character of Evan Baxter. He was referred to as “Evan Backstabber, err Bastard, I mean Baxter” in “Bruce Almighty” by Jim Carrey’s character. Though he is a politician now, and we can make those assumptions of his character, these traits are not present. If anything though, it gives us an inside look, so can be explained I guess, as what Evan Baxter is really like behind the scenes. But I expected more of the backstabbing-bastard.

Even with all that said, it was still an entertaining movie. Not great, but a worthwhile rental. If anything, like is pointed out on Amazon.Com’s description of the movie, it certainly shows that Carell can act sensitive and sincere, proving his range. Though we already saw that in “The 40 Year Old Virgin”, didn’t we?

Two pluses with the cast were Morgan Freeman and Wanda Sykes. As with “Bruce Almighty”, Freeman proves that he is probably the only choice in Hollywood today to play a movie version of God. George Burns was a good choice in the 70’s, but who else could do it with the wisdom, wit, and care that Freeman can right now? (Though I admit it was funny to see Alanis Morissette’s brief portrayal of God in “Dogma”.) With Wanda Sykes, as expected, she has some great one-liners that actually added a good portion of the movie’s comedy.

The biggest thing about this movie though is that it can be enjoyed by all. And I do mean all. I didn’t see, or remember, anything that would be inappropriate for children to see, and I believe that most Christians would find this a funny movie. Again, not the greatest, but entertaining indeed.