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Evan
Almighty
(2007)
In the beginning there was the Star Wars Trilogy
and the movie-going audience said (and still say) that it was
good. Then came the Indiana Jones Trilogy and the
audience said it too was good (except for the movie-going audience
in India who pretend that the second movie doesn't exist).
It's tough to find anyone who doesn't really enjoy these movies
and impossible to deny that they made boat loads of money.
As much as I loved these two classic trilogies, particularly
as a kid, I also resent the long term impact they have had
on Hollywood. Case in point: Evan Almighty.
Sequels. Remakes. Prequels. Sequels to remakes. Spin-offs.
If you don a blindfold and throw a dart at the movie section
of your local newspaper it's tough not to hit a movie that doesn't fall
into one of the above categories. Sadly that's only a slight
exaggeration. As I write this review, on the homepage of this very site,
4 of the 10 most recently reviewed movies are sequels or spin-offs
and with Evan Almighty and Ocean's Thirteen around the corner
we may see that number increase to 6 of 10. I'll return to
why in a second, but first I probably should actually review
the movie I'm reviewing.
Evan Almighty should be titled "Evan Mighty Eh." Was it good?
It was ok. Was it funny? I chuckled. Was it well structured?
Kinda. Did it have a good story and strongly developed characters?
Not really. Evan Almighty is the story of Evan Baxter (Steve Carell, reprising his role in Bruce Almighty being
chosen by God to be something of a new Noah. This of course
makes his job as a husband, father and Congressman a lot harder
and hilarity halfheartedly ensues.
Carell is likable and humorous. Lauren Graham is under
utilized as Evan's wife and also I think one of her ears is appreciably lower
than the other one. Morgan Freeman is warm and charming. John
Michael Higgins, in a very similar roll to the one he played
on Arrested Development, steals most of his scenes. Wanda Sykes
has a few good lines, as did Jonah Hill. Carell's former Daily Show cohorts Ed Helms and John
Stewart both have funny bit parts. Molly Shannon… John
Goodman… The movie certainly had no shortage of talent.
So what made it such an underwhelming film?
There isn't much of a story. If you saw Bruce Almighty you're
already familiar with the shtick. Evan is a good guy whose
priorities are out of whack. God gives him the opportunity
to see what's really important. Other people think he's insane.
He nearly loses everything he cares about but in the end only
loses the things he thought he cared about. A whole lot of
divine intervention jokes ensue along with several montages.
His old life and new responsibilities collide and in the end
Evan's a better, more devoted man for the experience.
I don't dislike the themes. Hell, I don't dislike the movie,
but I do dislike the villain's villainy being discovered off-screen by supporting characters. I dislike over a third of
the movie being montages. I dislike when bits are lifted straight
form Disney's The Santa Clause. Oh, and I really dislike God's powers
being demonstrated through cuts. (He's standing right there,
the camera cuts to something then cuts back and he's gone!
Truly he is all-powerful!) I also don't laugh when things are
cute. Monkey dancing? Cute. Not terribly funny, but cute. Monkey
handing Evan lemonade? Cute. Not terribly… well you get
the idea.
Evan Almighty has a larger and funnier cast than Bruce Almighty
did, but it doesn't have as gripping a story; the idea of a man suddenly
becoming Noah is significantly less interesting than a man
suddenly gaining all the powers of God. Unless, of course, you have a fetish
for, "Hey look at all the animals following that guy around!" jokes.
All the other jokes are puns and one-liners. They mostly work
but never really illicit big laughs. In the end, Evan Almighty's
a dilution of the original. They really water it down… ok,
I'll stop.
So how did this movie come to be? Two reasons. First, by being
a spin-off, studio execs often think of the original movie as being free advertising for this movie. Half the battle is raising awareness.
In this case it's also the sole reason for the name of the
film. Evan does not become almighty. Internally, he's referred
to as 'New York's Noah' and this would have been a more descriptive
title but might have lost out on the name recognition and thus
would have lost out on some of its built-in audience.
The second reason is because it's safe and easy for producers
to develop sequels. They own the rights already. Sequels are
proven money-makers because only movies popular to begin with
(usually) get sequels. (Yes, I know the original didn't fare all that
well, but I'm telling you, Heaven's Gate 2: Heaven's Gatier
is going to be huge!) This lowers the risk that the studio
takes on. You can think of this as the business end of show
business.
I hope this trend ends soon because I don't think I could handle
Ed Almighty, the spin-off to the spin-off about Ed Helm's journalist
character from Evan Almighty chosen by God to be the next Cain.
Evan Almighty is fine but not great and in that respect it's
less than the sum of its parts.
-Scott
Kline
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2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Tom
Shadyac
Writer: Steve Oedekerk, Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow, Steve Koren & Mark O'Keefe
Starring: Steve Carell, Lauren Graham, Morgan Freeman, Wanda Sykes, John Goodman, Ed Helms
Distributor: Universal
Pictures
Runtime: 95
min
Rating: PG
Release Date: June
22, 2007
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