Evan Almighty

Comedies are frequently stupid. We all know and accept this. Frequently, comedies are funny enough to overcome their stupidity, and some comedies are clever enough to use their stupidity to their advantage.

Evan Almighty, however, just misses.

There were several reasons to be optimistic about Evan Almighty. First and foremost: Steve Carell. Carell has gone from third fiddle on The Daily Show to star of NBC's The Office to--following his turn in The 40 Year Old Virgin--a bankable and likable movie star in his own right. And he's backed by a relatively solid supporting cast, including Morgan Freeman, Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham, John Michael Higgins, and John Goodman. Also, Evan Almighty follows in the footsteps of the moderately successful (if not amazing) Bruce Almighty.

There were also warning signs. Among them: mediocre director Tom Shaydac, and a disgusting $175 million price tag (which insures that studio suits will water the comedy down to the lowest common denominator.)

And then, there's the really, really stupid premise. Bruce Almighty had a pretty solid premise; namely, what if an ordinary man were given divine powers (and responsibilities)? In contrast, Evan Almighty has a really stupid premise; namely, what if God asked an ordinary guy to grow a long white beard and build an ark? (God's been around awhile, so it's understandable that he'd run out of fresh ideas.)

I suppose it's possible that a skilled writer or director could turn that craptastic premise into a serviceable plot, but that does not happen at all here. There are gads of unanswered questions, among them: Why must Steve Carell wear a robe and grow a beard in order to build an ark? And why doesn't he just tell his wife why he's building an ark, rather than committing the cardinal movie sin of needlessly withholding information to artificially increase drama?

There are more examples, but they require a SPOILER ALERT.

Why does God create a full-blown local flood in order to achieve only the terribly modest goal of blocking some anti-environmental legislation? And since the flood is terribly local--affecting only a small Washington D.C. neighborhood--why the hell do animals indigenous to Africa (lions, elephants, etc.) need to be on the ark? Did they just want to enjoy a nifty water ride? If that's the case, why don't they just go to Splash Mountain?

****End of SPOILER ALERT****

You can live with these abject stupidities if the movie is either particularly funny or particularly insightful, but Evan Almighty is neither.

It does have its funny moments, but it relies too much on sight gags and physical comedy, most notoriously a tiresome minute-long montage consisting of nothing but Steve Carell injuring himself in various ways whilst building the ark.

And in the insight category, it fails miserably. It trots out the same tired message of a workaholic father learning to spend time with his family, and even does this half-heartedly. And its view of God is positively inane, portraying the Ground of All Being as little more than an uncreative, needlessly specific, poorly planning trickster. He's kind of like the Greek god Pan, but a version Pan that sucks.

I also need to point out the shoddy character development, especially with Carell's three kids. Wicked Little Critta watched the movie with me, and as we were discussing it afterwards were were trying to remember his children's names. We failed, but we decided it didn't matter: They were just generic kids.

Aside from its moderate humor, this movie has two saving graces. The first is Steve Carell, who even in a thankless role such as this manages to be kind of fun to watch. And the second is the fact that the movie doesn't take itself too seriously.

Mixed all together, it amounts to a -1. It's perhaps the most unambitious $175 million movie ever made, but the laid-back attitude that damns it also manages to save it just a bit.