| Bruce Almighty | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tom Shadyac |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Dean Semler |
| Edited by | Scott Hill |
| Music by | John Debney |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 101 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $81 million[3] |
| Box office | $484.6 million[3] |
Bruce Almighty is a 2003 Americanfantasycomedy film starringJim Carrey. The film follows Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck television reporter who complains toGod (played byMorgan Freeman) that he is not doing his job correctly and is offered the chance to try being God himself for one week. The film was directed byTom Shadyac and written bySteve Koren,Mark O'Keefe andSteve Oedekerk.Jennifer Aniston,Steve Carell,Philip Baker Hall andCatherine Bell also star. The film is Shadyac and Carrey's third collaboration, afterAce Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) andLiar Liar (1997).
When released in American theaters on May 23, 2003,Bruce Almighty received mixed reviews from critics but was a box-office success and grossed $86.4 million in its opening weekend, aMemorial Day record at the time.[4] The film surprised the industry's pundits when it beatThe Matrix Reloaded the following weekend. It went on to gross $484 million worldwide, becoming thefifth-highest-grossing film of 2003.
Evan Almighty — aspin-offsequel focusing onSteve Carell's character, with Shadyac and Oedekerk returning to direct and write, respectively, and Freeman also reprising his role — was released on June 22, 2007. In addition, threeIndian remakes of the film -Krishnarjuna (Telugu-speaking),Arai En 305-il Kadavul (Tamil-speaking), andGod Tussi Great Ho (Hindi-speaking) - were released in 2008.
Bruce Nolan is a television field reporter forEyewitness News onWKBW-TV inBuffalo, New York, but desires to be an anchorman. When Bruce's rival, Evan Baxter, is given the job, a vulgar on-camera outburst leads to Bruce's dismissal. Bruce complains toGod that "he's the one that should be fired". 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, such as discoveringJimmy 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 theBuffalo Sabres win theStanley Cup. Bruce 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 prayerYes 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 theApocalypse 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. He returns to his computer at home and views Grace's prayers, 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.
In June 2000, it was announced thatUniversal Pictures had paid over $1 million for a spec script titledBruce Almighty[5] with the intention of positioning the script as a directing vehicle forTom Shadyac via his Universal-based production company Shady Acres.[5] Jim Carrey signed on to star in March 2002 withSteve Oedekerk rewriting the script.[6] Previously, Carrey had been slated to star in another comedy for Universal titled 'Dog Years' to be directed byGary Ross, but following that film's cancellation, Universal was eager to get Carrey onto another project.[6]
Filming ofBuffalo was done in the "New York Street" atUniversal Studios Hollywood. The restaurant withTony Bennett was filmed at Cicada, in theJames Oviatt Building, downtown Los Angeles.[7] Thespa scene with Jennifer Aniston was filmed in theShoin building atThe Japanese Garden in Los Angeles.
Bruce Almighty was released on May 23, 2003, byUniversal Pictures. Universal handled distribution in the United States and Canada (although they were originally planned to distribute the film worldwide) whileSpyglass Entertainment handled sales rights internationally.[8]Buena Vista International acquired distribution rights in a majority of regions[9][10] 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[11] andPony Canyon[12] respectively handled theatrical and home video rights in Japan, whileSF Studios handled Scandinavian distribution through subsidiariesAB Svensk Filmindustri in Sweden,[13] SF Film A/S in Denmark[14] andFS Film Oy in Finland.[15]
Bruce Almighty was released onDVD andVHS on November 25, 2003, byUniversal Studios Home Video.[16] The DVD version features separate widescreen and fullscreen versions, along withDolby Digital andDTS audio tracks.[17] It was later released onBlu-ray.
Bruce Almighty earned $67.9 million during its opening weekend, which made it the highest for aJim Carrey film, surpassingHow the Grinch Stole Christmas.[18] This record would be held until the opening ofSonic the Hedgehog 2 in 2022.[19] At the time, it was one of three Universal films of 2003 to make opening weekends of $50 million, joining2 Fast 2 Furious andHulk.[20] In its first four days, the film generated a total of $86.4 million, becoming the second-highestMemorial Day weekend debut, behindThe Lost World: Jurassic Park. It opened in the number one spot at the box office, beatingThe Matrix Reloaded.[21] The film would be dethroned byFinding Nemo in its second weekend, declining by 45.1% and making $37.3 million.[22]
The film was released in theUnited Kingdom on June 27, 2003, and topped the country's box office that weekend.[23] There, it made a total of $8.3 million, beatingBatman Forever to have the highest opening weekend for a Jim Carrey film in the country.[24]
Bruce Almighty joinedThe Matrix Reloaded,Finding Nemo,X2 andPirates 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.[25] 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 thefifth-highest-grossing film of 2003.[3] It continued to be Carrey's highest-grossing film worldwide until March 2025 whenSonic the Hedgehog 3 surpassed it.[26]
OnRotten 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, butBruce Almighty gets bogged down in treacle."[27] OnMetacritic, it has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[28] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert of theChicago 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 (afterThe Good Girl) that she really will have a movie career."[29]Variety's 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."[30] TheLos Angeles Times gave it a negative review and called it "not so mighty".[31]
Chuck Rudolph ofSlant Magazine said, "In several ways, the movie is an apathetic revision ofThe Truman Show, with Carrey starring as both Truman and Christof."[32]
The film was banned inEgypt,Saudi Arabia,Iran,Kuwait andQatar because of its portrayal of God as an ordinary man and its being blasphemous to Islam. Bans in bothMalaysia and Egypt were eventually lifted after the nations' censorship boards gave the film their highest rating (18-PL in the case of Malaysia).[33][34]
As God contacts Bruce using an actual phone number rather than one in the standard fictional555telephone exchange, several people and groups sharing this number received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to talk to God, including a church inNorth 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 inManchester,England.[35] 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.[36][35]
| Association | Category | Nominee | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | Top Box Office Films | John Debney | Won |
| Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture "I'm With You" | Graham Edwards Avril Lavigne | Won | |
| BET Comedy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Box Office Movie | Morgan Freeman | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | Film: Best Supporting Actor | Nominated[37] | |
| JoBlo.com Golden Schmoes Awards | Most Overrated Movie of the Year | Nominated | |
| NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Morgan Freeman | Won[38] |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | Best Comedic Performance | Jim Carrey | Nominated[39] |
| Best Kiss | Jim Carrey Jennifer Aniston | Nominated[39] | |
| MTV Movie Awards Mexico | Most Divine Miracle in a Movie (for the chest of Grace) | Jim Carrey | Won |
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Movie | Nominated[40] | |
| Favorite Movie Actor | Jim Carrey | Won[41] | |
| People's Choice Awards | Favorite Comedy Motion Picture | Won[42] | |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Actor – Comedy | Jim Carrey | Won[43] |
| Choice Movie Actress – Comedy | Jennifer Aniston | Nominated[44] | |
| Choice Movie – Chemistry | Jim Carrey Morgan Freeman | Nominated[44] |
| Bruce Almighty: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by John Debney, Various Artists | |
| Released | June 3, 2003 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Label | Varèse Sarabande |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [45] |
The soundtrack was released on June 3, 2003, byVarèse Sarabande. Tracks 8-13 are from the score composed byJohn Debney, performed by theHollywood Studio Symphony (conducted by Pete Anthony) with Brad Dechter and Sandy De Crescent.
Track listing
Asequel and spin-off, titledEvan Almighty, was released on June 22, 2007, withSteve 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.
BeforeEvan Almighty materialized, screenwriters Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe envisioned a sequel with the titleBrucifer. 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.[46]
