Bruce Almighty

Bruce Nolan is a television field reporter for Eyewitness News on WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York, who desires to become an anchorman. He is sent on assignment in Niagara Falls where he learns that his rival, Evan Baxter, has been promoted to anchorman. An infuriated Bruce loses his temper and goes into a vulgar on-camera outburst resulting with his dismissal from his job. After being dismissed from his job, Bruce accuses God of not doing his job correctly. He receives a pager message, leading him to a warehouse where he meets God in human form. God gives Bruce his powers, to test him. He cannot tell others he has them, nor can he use the powers against others' free will. Bruce is initially jubilant using the powers for personal gain, such as regaining his previous job and impressing his girlfriend, Grace Connelly. Bruce uses his powers to cause miraculous events which he subsequently reports on, such as discovering Jimmy Hoffa's body during a segment on police training and causing a meteorite to harmlessly land near a cook-off, earning him the nickname "Mr. Exclusive". He makes the Buffalo Sabres win the Stanley Cup and causes Evan to get fired by embarrassing himself on-air, so that Bruce is appointed as the new anchor. Bruce hears voices in his head and God explains that the voices are prayers that Bruce must deal with. Bruce creates an email system to receive the prayers and respond, but there are too many, so he sets the program to answer every prayer Yes automatically. Bruce attends a party to celebrate his promotion. When Grace arrives, she finds Bruce being kissed by his co-anchor, Susan Ortega, who forced herself on him, and leaves. Bruce tries to use his powers to convince Grace to stay, but cannot influence her free will. He realizes that Buffalo has fallen into chaos due to his actions: some believe the Apocalypse is imminent due to the meteor strikes, while a large number of people, all having prayed to win the lottery and received a small amount like $17 in return, have started rioting everywhere. Bruce returns to God, who explains that he cannot solve all the problems and Bruce must figure out a way. Bruce then starts to help others without using his powers, including having Evan reinstated as anchor. When Debbie, Grace's sister, visits Bruce's apartment to collect her belongings, she tells him that Grace frequently prays for him. He returns to his computer at home and views Grace's numerous prayers involving Bruce, wishing for his success and well-being. As Bruce reads them, another arrives, wishing not to be in love with him any more. Bruce walks alone on a highway, asking God to take back his powers and leaving his fate in his hands. He is hit by a truck and regains consciousness in a white void, apparently dead. God appears and asks Bruce what he really wants; Bruce only wants to make sure Grace finds a man who will make her happy. God agrees, and Bruce awakes on the roadside, undergoing defibrillation. Grace visits him in hospital and they reconcile. Following his full recovery, Bruce returns to his field reporting job, deciding to take pleasure in the simple news stories in Buffalo. The film ends with a close-up on a homeless man who reveals himself to be God and then claps off the film. ==Cast==

'' building at the Japanese Garden in Los Angeles was used as the spa. In June 2000, it was announced that Universal Pictures had paid over $1 million for a spec script titled Bruce Almighty with the intention of positioning the script as a directing vehicle for Tom Shadyac via his Universal-based production company Shady Acres. Previously, Carrey had been slated to star in another comedy for Universal titled 'Dog Years' to be directed by Gary Ross, but following that film's cancellation, Universal was eager to get Carrey onto another project. The spa scene with Jennifer Aniston was filmed in the Shoin building at The Japanese Garden in Los Angeles. ==Release==

Bruce Almighty was released on May 23, 2003, by Universal Pictures. Universal handled distribution in the United States and Canada (although they were originally planned to distribute the film worldwide) while Spyglass Entertainment handled sales rights internationally. Buena Vista International acquired distribution rights in a majority of regions except in Scandinavia, Portugal and Japan, where it was handled by distributors who already held deals with Spyglass in those respective territories. United International Pictures and Pony Canyon respectively handled theatrical and home video rights in Japan, while SF Studios handled Scandinavian distribution through subsidiaries AB Svensk Filmindustri in Sweden, SF Film A/S in Denmark and FS Film Oy in Finland. Home media Bruce Almighty was released on DVD and VHS on November 25, 2003, by Universal Studios Home Video. The DVD version features separate widescreen and fullscreen versions, along with Dolby Digital and DTS audio tracks. It was later released on Blu-ray. ==Reception==

Box office Bruce Almighty earned $67.9 million during its opening weekend, which made it the highest for a Jim Carrey film, surpassing How the Grinch Stole Christmas. There, it made a total of $8.3 million, beating Batman Forever to have the highest opening weekend for a Jim Carrey film in the country. Bruce Almighty joined The Matrix Reloaded, Finding Nemo, X2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl to become the first five films to earn over $200 million at the box office in one summer season. By the end of its theatrical run, the film had made $242 million domestically and a total $484 million worldwide, making it Aniston and Carrey's highest-grossing film worldwide, as well as the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2003. Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 191 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Carrey is hilarious in the slapstick scenes, but Bruce Almighty gets bogged down in treacle." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, calling it: "A charmer, the kind of movie where Bruce learns that while he may not ever make a very good God, the experience may indeed make him a better television newsman." Ebert praised Aniston's performance: "Aniston, as a sweet kindergarten teacher and fiancée, shows again (after The Good Girl) that she really will have a movie career." Varietys Robert Koehler gave the film a mixed review: "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." The Los Angeles Times gave it a negative review and called it "not so mighty". Chuck Rudolph of Slant Magazine said, "In several ways, the movie is an apathetic revision of The Truman Show, with Carrey starring as both Truman and Christof." Controversies The film was banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and Qatar because of its portrayal of God as an ordinary man and its being blasphemous to Islam. Bans in both Malaysia and Egypt were eventually lifted after the nations' censorship boards gave the film their highest rating (18-PL in the case of Malaysia). As God contacts Bruce using an actual phone number rather than one in the standard fictional 555 telephone exchange, several people and groups sharing this number received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to talk to God, including a church in North Carolina, US (where the minister was named Bruce), a Florida woman who threatened to sue Universal Pictures, a pastor in northern Wisconsin and a man running a sandwich shop in Manchester, England. The producers noted that the number (776–2323) was not in use in the area code (716, which was never specified on screen) in the film's story, but did not check anywhere else. For the home video and television versions of the film, the number was changed to the fictional 555–0123. ==Accolades==

The soundtrack was released on June 3, 2003, by Varèse Sarabande. Tracks 8–13 are from the score composed by John Debney, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony (conducted by Pete Anthony) with Brad Dechter and Sandy De Crescent. Track listing • "One of Us" – Joan Osborne • "God Shaped Hole" – Plumb • "You're a God" – Vertical Horizon • "The Power" – Snap! • "A Little Less Conversation" – Elvis vs. JXL • "The Rockafeller Skank" – Fatboy Slim • "God Gave Me Everything" – Mick Jagger featuring Lenny Kravitz • "If I Ruled the World" – Tony Bennett • "AB Positive" • "Walking on Water" • "Seventh at Seven" • "Bruce Meets God" • "Bruce's Prayer" • "Grace's Prayer" ==Related media==

• Arai En 305-il Kadavul, a Tamil-language remake • God Tussi Great Ho, an Indian remake • The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, a spin-off documentary television series starring Morgan Freeman Sequel A sequel and spin-off, titled Evan Almighty, was released on June 22, 2007, with Steve Carell reprising his role as Evan Baxter and Morgan Freeman returning to his role as God. Although Shadyac returned to direct the sequel, neither Carrey nor Aniston were involved with the film, and Carrey's character, Bruce, is never mentioned in the film. The film was a critical and commercial failure. Before Evan Almighty materialized, screenwriters Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe envisioned a sequel with the title Brucifer. The proposed sequel involved Aniston's character dying and Carrey's character, under the weight of his grief, takes on Satan's powers, which he uses to resurrect Aniston's character. ==References==