Evan Almighty

Review:

Director: Tom Shadyac

Starring: Steve Carrell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, Johnny Simmons

A comedy of biblical proportions Morgan Freeman is back as God, and this time, he turns to Evan Baxter, last seen as a babbling TV newsreader in Bruce Almighty. Unlike Bruce, Evan is not taking over from a God in need of holiday - the Lord wants him to build an Ark.

After the huge success of Bruce Almighty, a sequel was bound to be made - but it does not fall into the traps of stretching plotlines too far, or doing the same film all over again. Evan Almighty is an altogether different film - and for good reasons. Where Bruce was more a succession of small jokes with an all things considered thin ark, Evan's script is written in a more clever and evolving way, from Evan's realisation of his status (which took most of Bruce's plot) to the attempts at building of the Ark, via people's reaction to a new lunatic wanting to build one.

Different from the previous instalment of what could become a franchise in more than one way, Evan Almighty also stands out by Steve Carrell's astonishing performance as Evan. The actor, previously seen in Little Miss Sunshine, is far less burlesque than Jim Carrey as Bruce, leaving room for more subtle humour as well as the gag humour that made Bruce so successful. Indeed, the film works on many levels and can be enjoyed as a light-hearted comedy just as well as a satire of politics and a plea for ecology.

The second instalment in the Almighty saga is billed as "one of the most expensive comedies in the history of cinema", and it shows on the screen through the quality of the special effects and the impressive variety of animals, including elephants, involved. Evan Almighty is, however, still a nice little film without any other pretention than light entertainement, which allows its hour and a half to be entirely, deeply enjoyable.

Pierre Schramm