Rating of
2/4
Shadyac delivers another sermon of a film
TheOtherRainMan - wrote on 07/12/08
If there is one type of film I hate, its the films about religion. These are the films that usually contain the moral about how you must accept Jesus in your life to be saved and that the world is evil. "Evan Almighty", despite an all-star cast, is just as bad as those films with its message about how we need to follow God's will and such.
The plot really needs no explanation, but to those who basically live under a rock and not seen the COUNTLESS retellings of this story, this is what happens. God (Morgan Freeman) tells Anchorman-turned-Congressman Evan Baxter (funnyman Steve Carell) to build an ark. Everyone, including his wife (Lauren Graham), Wanda Sykes, Jonah Hill, and John Goodman, all tell him not to. "Hilarity" and preachy-ness ensue.
The one thing that this film does right is casting. The entire cast manages to make this film remotely enjoyable. I will also give this film credit for being family friendly. This film is definitely in the PG range.
That does not excuse this film for its lack of actual humor and its extremely preachy and way too many morals and themes. If you were to count the number of morals (environmental, following God's will, being kind to everyone, the importance of family, crooked government, how to dance, and so on), you'd probably have enough morals to run 3 Live Aids. On top of that, they make sure that you know these morals by shoving it down your throat, especially with the final five minutes which really beat in the God's will moral.
On a side note, the director, Tom Shadyac, has been known to make his films preachy (Bruce Almighty, Chuck and Larry (which he only produced)) and it ruins the credibility and the enjoyment factor.
The other part is that this film is just a collection of animal poop jokes, pop culture references, physical and groin jokes. This type of humor gets old fast and relies way too much on the cast. In fact, out of the two or three times I chuckled, it was mainly because of the actors, not of the script.
I first saw Evan Almighty at a free screening last June. At the end, everyone gave it a rousing applause. I don't know whether it was because of the fact that they did not pay any money to see it (beside the $50 plus dollars on gas, a medium soda and popcorn), or whether the credits were funny. Granted, I have nothing against family-friendly films. Sadly, most of these films are utter crap and have no value what so ever. If that is the case, than Evan Almighty stands as the poster child for those kind of films.
Rating: D
Star Rating: ** out of ****
Pros
+ The casting is perfect
+ The special effects are somewhat impressive
+ It's family friendly
Cons
- It's not that funny
- Way, Way, WAY too preachy
- Horribly written
- Relies way too much on tired humor
Recommendation: Only choose this if the other choice for the evening was "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium".
Things I Could Have Done Instead:
* Studied British Literature
* Read Crime and Punishment
* Discovered the meaning of life
* Wrote an Oscar Speech (for Eddie Murphy's performance in "Norbit")
* Danced a Better Dance
