“The only one in here who’s not doing his job in here is you.” “So is one bird in hand worth two in the bush? Damn you, I have no bird, I have no bush.” “Naah, you are not picking on me, you are merely ignoring me as you are too busy giving my rivals everything they want.” ’’ So you think you rule? Do you exist in the first place? Answer me!’’
No, I’m not Neale Donald Walsch and neither are you reading my book, ’Conversations With God’. You were formerly warned that this review has been written by Raj Lalwani, and it’s me all right. On a slightly more serious note, read the above italicized words again, and ponder a while. Haven’t we all said something similar at sometime or the other in our lives? Almost everyday would be the answer, if you are truthful enough to admit it. Even the self-proclaimed atheists, who think it is hep not to believe in God, when facing difficulties, scream aloud in frustration, ’’Why did you do this?’’ No points for guessing whom the blame is thrust upon. If you do a job well, and someone tells you to thank God for the success you got, the reply is usually ’’It was my hard work, wasn’t it?’’ On the flipside, the moment we are in trouble, it all becomes his fault.
Also, whether you are a protheist, atheist or merely agnostic, the fact remains that each of us have this fantasy to be able to do whatever we wanted. Control fate. Control destiny. Rule the world and make it dance to your tunes, in a different manner from what Adolf Hitler would have wanted to rule the world. While we kept fantasizing, Bruce Nolan (the irrepressible Jim Carrey) actually had his wishes fulfilled. In Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey plays a TV reporter who is usually given assignments which are not the usual run of the mill kind. As in real life, Jim Carrey’s character in this movie is that of a person who can make people smile, giggle, laugh, guffaw and snort as and when he wants. Consequently, his boss prefers to give him only the kind of assignments in which he can use his sense of humour to the fullest. In Bollywood language, he was typecasted.
While Bruce’s girlfriend of five years, Grace (Jennifer Aniston) loves the kind of assignments he gets, Bruce himself is not happy. He craves for the anchor spot, which was held by Evan Backstabber, aka Evan Baxter (Steven Carrel). Finally after a lot of cribbing, bruce gets an assignment which he messes up. The consequence being that he is sacked, and the blaming on the Almighty gets even more personal.
Finally, even God loses his patience (!) and pages Bruce. Talk of technological development in the heavens too!
So, without any tapasya stretching upto a number of years, Bruce Nolan meets God (a refreshingly light-hearted Morgan Freeman, who has always reminded me of Nelson Mandela!). The initial interaction between Bruce and God is hilarious to say the least. Watch out for the sequence when after God bestows upon Bruce his powers, Bruce remains apprehensive and decided to test God. The two extra fingers reminded me of the promos of ’Darna Mana Hai’, though Bruce didn’t find them funny. Petrified, he runs away in an instant, and later comments that the two extra fingers freaked him out!
So, the God basher is God! As Bruce realises that ’he’s got the power’, he begins to use his skill for making himself comfortable and happier in life. Note the word ’himself’. Although his materialistic pleasures are coming by the doyen, and the dog suddenly learns impeccable toilet habits (defecating in the loo, with a newspaper!), Bruce is unknowingly hurting his near and dear ones.
Moreover, he begins to hear voices. Prayers, of course! Bruce heard each and every thing you and I ask God for, but the problem was that at a certain time, there were thousands praying. In short, he couldn’t decipher the requests. Perhaps that’s why, when we pray to God, our prayers are not always fulfilled! Bruce takes an easy way out as he logs on to Yahhew! (a hilarious spoof on Yahoo!) Getting an average of 1319810 prayers in his inbox every hour (unlimited capacity?), Bruce takes the easy way out and grants all the requests. Needless to say, that some of the prayers may have been anti-social, and riots break out. Since all the prayers were granted, the mega lottery was won by so many people that each person won a mere 17 $ ! Also, Bruce’s female colleague, who had begun to fancy him, gets to kiss him ... result of her prayer? Needless to say, Grace witnesses them kissing and breaks up. And that’s when Bruce realises his mistakes and begins to amend them.
Jim Carrey is at his almighty funniest. Evoking guffaws in each and every scene, he is, as always, a sheer delight to watch. Jennifer Aniston is alright. Watch out for the scene when Bruce makes her assets bigger! As Grace gushes about how she is finding them bigger than usual, Bruce doesn’t know how to react, and finally replies with ’’That’s the breast thing that could have happened!’’
Brad Pitt must be thanking Jim Carrey from the bottom his heart. What he couldn’t do (enlarge Jennifer’s in the right places) in their two-odd years of marriage, was managed by the character Bruce!
The dialogues are sprinkled with humour, humour, and a little bit more of humour. Morgan Freeman, as God, is brilliant. In an understated role, he creates an aura of spirituality around him and is great when it comes to humor, too! When he asks Bruce to pray, and Brucenot knowing what to say, asks for peace to mankind and removal of poverty, God smiles and says, ’’That’s a great prayer ... if you are Miss America!’’
Although the film is hilarious throughout, the icing on the cake is when Grace opens the door to see Bruce, singing at the top of his voice, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand and exclaims, ’’Oh my God!’’ To which, Bruce oh-so-casually remarks, ’’You can call me Bruce.’’
So the next time you want to realise your dream of doing whatever you ever desired, you know what to do. Blame God, until he loses his patience, and pages! ;-) But, don’t do that while you are on the highway. After all, you cannot kneel down on the highway and expect to remain alive!
------------------------------------------------------------Since I cannot mess with free will, I can’t force you to comment, but I would love it if you do on your own accord!