Having shown himself best in broadly comic features, Jim Carrey is in slapstick form as an envious Buffalo, New York TV newsman doing absurdly light entertainment sketches such as celebrating the anniversary of a local cookie bakery where Shayac hopes to get laughs by having one of the owners of the store picking his nose while awaiting his turn to be interviewed. Losing out in his struggle to get the anchor job when his boss, Jack Keller (Philip Baker Hall) appoints the starchy and smirky Evan Baxter (Steven Carell) to the desk job, he lets his frustrations out by going nuts on camera, during one of his assignments, continues to complain to his live-in girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston), and ultimately plays the Job card by kvetching to God. The latter, presumably ignoring the suffering of people in Calcutta and Bangladesh, spends considerable time with the forlorn newsman, giving him all of His powers. Somehow, God knows He has nothing to worry about from the competition and the superb Morgan Freeman plays the role with a low profile and his signature charm.

"Bruce Almighty" actually is at its best during the preachy parts, the sentimental slop that critics usually find distasteful but which has proven to charm audiences. Think of how Frank Capra sent Kleenex stock soaring with his 1949 feature "It's a Wonderful Life" wherein James Stewart, like Jim Carrey in the current offering, thinks he is a failure and is saved by divine intervention. Wouldn't you know that Bruce Nolan, having tested his powers by parting a bowl of tomato soup, would mess things up by virtually giving his girlfriend the moon thus causing tidal waves in the Far East to devastate the landscape! Confronted in his email by the prayers of so many people that he simply replied, "Yes to all," he causes riots in his home town as thousands of people have to share the winnings of their lottery tickets.

For laughs, Chadyac whose best alliance with Jim Carrey was the more imaginative "Liar Liar" (about a lawyer who is compelled to tell the truth for twenty-four hours) depends on such sophisticated raillery as a dog's peeing in the toilet, sitting on the potty reading a newspaper, and learning to do his business by the tree outside rather than on the living room couch. Carrey himself is not as energetic as he was in "The Mask" but continues to rely too heavily on grimaces and body contortions. Ironically the best scene in the movie is the final one with Carrey in the role of a light-news interviewer again talking with the owners of bake shop that has once again made a cookie in record-breaking size. His commentary is down-to- earth, whimsical, and genuinely loving. He comes off as a real human being and should be given roles to exploit his talents in that area.