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Bruce Almighty
Bruce Nolan toils as a "human interest" television reporter in Buffalo, NY, but despite his high ratings and the love of his beautiful girlfriend, Bruce remains unfulfilled. At the end of the worst day in his life, he angrily ridicules God — and the Almighty responds, endowing Bruce with all of His divine powers.
2003 · Directed by Tom Shadyac · 101 min · Fantasy · Comedy · Screenplay in the scene database · 16 frames
Tagline
In Bruce we trust?
Plot
Bruce Nolan is a television field reporter for Eyewitness News on WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York, who wants to move on from his field reporting job and become an anchorman. He is sent on assignment in Niagara Falls where he learns that his rival, Evan Baxter, has been promoted to anchorman. An infuriated Bruce loses his temper and goes into a vulgar on-camera outburst resulting with his dismissal from his job. After being dismissed from his job, Bruce accuses God of not doing his job correctly. 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 which he subsequently reports on, such as discovering Jimmy 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 the Buffalo Sabres win the Stanley Cup and 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 prayer Yes 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 the Apocalypse 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 anchorman. When Debbie, Grace's sister, visits Bruce's apartment to collect her belongings, she tells him that Grace frequently prays for him. He returns to his computer at home and views Grace's numerous prayers involving Bruce, wishing for his success and well-being. As Bruce reads them, another arrives, wishing not to be in love with him any more.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Steve Oedekerk, Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe
- Cinematography: Dean Semler
- Edited by: Scott Hill
- Music: John Debney
- Production design: Linda DeScenna
- Produced by: Michael Bostick, James D. Brubaker, Jim Carrey, Steve Koren
Cast
- Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan
- Morgan Freeman as God
- Jennifer Aniston as Grace Connelly
- Philip Baker Hall as Jack Baylor
- Catherine Bell as Susan Ortega
- Lisa Ann Walter as Debbie
- Steve Carell as Evan Baxter
- Nora Dunn as Ally Loman
- Eddie Jemison as Bobby
- Paul Satterfield as Dallas Coleman
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Pit Bull Productions, Spyglass Entertainment, Shady Acres Entertainment
- Budget: $80,000,000
- Box office: $484,592,874
- Themes: new love, lovesickness, moon, street gang, moses, faith, prayer, christianity, journalism, car crash
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