Evan Almighty

If you aren't in the city or just didn't notice, Vancouver had some pretty mixed-up weather yesterday. First, a deluge in the morning which woke us up with a sound similar to a river being diverted past our window. Then, sunshine. Then rain. Then thunder and lightning. Then more rain. Then sunshine. You get the idea. Seemed rather apt that we had planned to see Evan Almighty even before the weather freaked out.

A little background first: The Boy had seen Liar, Liar, the first of what I see as a trilogy of Michael Bostick-produced, Tom Shadyac-directed, family-friendly, moral-heavy comedies but not the second, Bruce Almighty, and so can be forgiven for the WTF? expression he gave me when I commented that I saw the three films as being very much alike in shape and style. That's not to say that Liar, Liar, Bruce Almighty, and Evan Almighty aren't funny and entertaining. They are funny but in very similar ways. In fact, I think that the differences between Bruce and Evan are solely due to the differences between Carell and Carrey. The over-actor and the career-schmuck. The actresses playing the wives/girlfriends in the three movies (chronologically Maura Tierney, Jennifer Aniston, and Lauren Graham) don't get a lot to work with. The kids (present in L,L and EA) are usually little scene-stealers but really only serve the role of heartstring-pullers. The most remarkable resemblance between the three movies is in the protagonist's development. Career-driven individual learns what is truly important through mystical intervention (and a large dose of embarrassment). Carrey's roles usually involve a large amount of hubris whereas Carell is, overall, a more sympathetic character to begin with. In fact, come to think of it, Carrey tended to be both the hero and the asshole in his two films while John Goodman stepped in to fill the role of the "villain" in EA. And that's another thing these films share - a lack of a true bad guy. Characters can be greedy, superficial, ignorant, and manipulative but they never mean to be bad. They're all redeemable and repent in the end. It's all a little high on the sweet-factor for me.

Getting back to Evan Almighty specifically, it's full of great little sight-gags and some very obvious self-referencing. The animals are very cute and funny and varied (it ONLY cost $200 million? The Hollywood Animal Wranglers Union must've lost the last round of negotiations) and, damn, if they weren't so verminous and probably rabid, I would be getting me a pet raccoon tomorrow. Special effects were good and the size of the completed ark was downright impressive. The Noah plotline concerns itself completely with the building of the ark (which leads to "family-time" together) and the gathering of the animals (which leads to a family pet) and completely eschews the whole drunken incest bit from the Bible. (And a good thing that, I figure.) The supporting players are all incredibly talented - Goodman, Shannon, Sykes, Higgins and Hill - and it's anyone's guess who will be Almighty next.

BTW, I would be perfectly happy to find out (in sixty years or so) that the Big Guy Upstairs actually resembles the one portrayed by Morgan Freeman. "Want more proof? I haven't done the pillar of salt thing in a while." ROFL. P.S. Check out his name tag in the restaurant scene.