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Bruce Almighty (2003)

tomatometer

49

Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 183
Fresh: 89 | Rotten: 94

Carrey is hilarious in the slapstick scenes, but Bruce Almighty gets bogged down in treacle.

57

Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 16

Carrey is hilarious in the slapstick scenes, but Bruce Almighty gets bogged down in treacle.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 31,507,041

My Rating

Movie Info

After a bad day at work, a man suddenly gets a new job -- as the world's new Heavenly Father -- in this comedy. Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television reporter working in Buffalo, NY, who has been growing increasingly dissatisfied with his existence, and after an especially bad day, he flies into a rage and curses God for making his life miserable. To Bruce's great surprise, the Supreme Being Himself (Morgan Freeman) appears, and tries to convince Bruce of the enormity of his task. Bruce,

Nov 25, 2003

$242.6M

Universal Pictures

Cast

All Critics (186) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (92) | Rotten (95) | DVD (23)

There's remarkably little done with a premise snatched from high-concept heaven, adding yet another file to the growing cabinet of under-realized comedies.

July 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mr. Carrey gets some of his biggest laughs in years by playing up the darker side of his character's small-mindedness.

June 13, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comment
New York Observer
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Bruce takes over for the vacationing deity, but despite an initial surge of jolly, somewhat cruel chaos (as when he forces the new anchor to unreel paragraphs of gibberish on camera), things soon turn soggy.

May 27, 2003 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

... on at least three or four occasions, Carrey made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes -- and that's a heck of a trick.

May 27, 2003 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Highly watchable.

May 26, 2003 Full Review Source: Slate | Comment
Slate
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Carrey] is in loose-limbed form, with healthy doses of fury, in a film that mostly succeeds at fusing his slapstick talents and more heartfelt inclinations.

May 26, 2003 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Happily deranged comedy has normal Carrey humor.

December 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Ultimately, Bruce Almighty is an excuse for Jim Carrey to be crazy and zany. He puts on his comedy hat and has fun with the script. It's made for the Jim Carrey fan.

September 21, 2010 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

For all its swings for the fences, the movie never rises above being lightly amusing.

January 9, 2010 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
TheMovieReport.com

It fails to really use Carrey's comedic ability and it ultimately wastes the potential it reaps.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

The inspiration flags after a while, but there are many hilarious moments, and the resolution (thanks to Jennifer Aniston as Carrey's put-upon girlfriend) is sweetly touching.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

This is another of Jim Carrey's surefire vehicles that can be whittled down to a phrase: Jim Carrey is the Grinch; Jim Carrey is God.

August 11, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Move over Meg Ryan: When Harry Met Sally's climactic luncheonette scene will never be the same after Aniston's eye-popping rendezvous with her maker.

August 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Long Island Press | Comment
Long Island Press

The premise sounds good, but this time around the result is forced and undercooked.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

If only the writers had thought to open up the concept beyond dog-on-toilet gags.

June 9, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Director Shadyac and his three scriptwriters prove much more fallibly flawed than their omnipotent hero.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Bruce Almighty is the kind of movie that Jim Carrey should stick to.

June 20, 2005 Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | Comment

Up until the last act, Bruce is a decent, if not stellar Jim Carrey comedy.

March 5, 2005 Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | Comment (1)
NYC Film Critic

[Aniston] contributes another professional outing in what's little more than a supporting role, indicating she's a serious actress and not just one of those jerks on Friends.

October 7, 2004 Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | Comment

It is laugh out loud funny and yet, heartfelt.

August 13, 2004 Full Review Source: Oregon Herald | Comment

The dearth of imagination is stupefying. Carrey is alternately embarrassing and terrifyingly detached, [and] Freeman has sold out.

July 6, 2004 Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS) | Comments (4)
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Bruce Almighty

Remember when Jim Carry was funny... the only thing I took from this is God probably does look like Freeman.

January 27, 2012
Joshua Wilburn

Super Reviewer

As goes the director, Tom Shadyac, I usually don't care for him. Both ACE VENTURA films were dumb enough to make Sandler look like Einstein, and LIAR LIAR was one disturbingly hyperactive performance. It seems the only two Shadyac films I remotely enjoyed were EVAN ALMIGHTY (which I saw first) and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR.

June 14, 2011
spielberg00
Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

    1. Bruce Nolan: Okay. How many hands are behind my back?
    2. God: Seven.
    3. Bruce Nolan: Ah HA! AHH!
    – Submitted by Domenica D (41 days ago)
    1. Bruce Nolan: I'm Bruce Nolan for Eyewitness News. Back to you, FUCKERS!
    – Submitted by Dave M (57 days ago)
    1. Bruce Nolan: And that's the way the cookie crumbles.
    – Submitted by Dimitrakis Z (58 days ago)
    1. Grace: I woke up this morning and I swear my boobs felt bigger. Do they look bigger to you?
    – Submitted by Jacob D (3 months ago)

Latest News for Bruce Almighty

January 10, 2012:
Another Bruce Almighty Movie in the Works
Universal plans a direct sequel to the first film, with Jim Carrey back in the leading role.

October 12, 2011:
Jim Carrey in Talks for Burt Wonderstone
He could reunite with his "Bruce Almighty" costar Steve Carell in the comedy about a Las Vegas...

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