Cool News
EVAN ALMIGHTY leads a pair of reviews onto the ark!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I got a pair of reviews I'm saving from the wrath of God. Check them out! The first review has some semi-spoilerish details and the second is spoiler-free.
Okay, not such a big deal to most geeks, but I saw Evan Almighty this week, and I felt obligated to get a little word out on it, as it has been mostly ignored by everyone this summer. This is not necessarily a shame, as it's no great shakes or anything, but at the same time, there is nothing particularly wrong with it, and it doesn't really deserve the shame and derision it seems destined to get.
Plotwise, it does very little to break new ground. Evan (Carell) has nothing in common with the Bruce Almighty character. I think we are meant to believe it is the same guy, but it couldn't matter less. Evan has just been elected to congress, and moves to DC with his family, including Lauren Graham as his hot wife. He's a pleasant enough guy, a lot less fucked up than your average Carell character, and he thinks animals are dirty! (Ironic!) Before long, God as played by Morgan Freeman appears and demands he builds an ark, and hilarity ensues. Evan soon begins to mimic the biblical Noah, from the animals to the white hair and beard, and everyone thinks he's lost his mind. It's exatcly what you expect from the sparse TV commercials. Bottom line, the plot is silly and stupid, with obvious comedy beats throughout.
That said, its definately a big improvement on Bruce Almighty, largely due to the fine cast that was somehow assembled. No one in this thing is really stretching themselves, but everyone plays the thing sincerely and with plenty of bonhomie and good humor. Carell deserves stardom, and is a much more likable protagonist than Carrey was. He really anchors the film, and even when the writing is wretched and irritating, it's nigh impossible to fault his performance. Lauren Graham is lovely as his wife, which is about as stock as a character gets, but is somehow more engaging just because she's playing it. In fact, this pretty much applies to everyone in the whole film. As Carell's coworkers, Wanda Sykes, John Michael Higgins, and Knocked Up's Jonah Hill make the absolute most of their nothing roles, each scoring a half dozen solid bits throughout. John Goodman, playing a villainous politician, lends a surprising amount of gravitas to his undercooked role (and also appears to be, if not healthy, at least breathing easier than I've seen him in a while). And Ed Helms delivers some funny in a smaller role late in the film. The cast here is excellent, and it's a shame they weren't allowed to come up with something original on par with their talent.
That's about the story on Evan Almighty. Ultimately, its inoffensive pap. The big question for me was how they were going to resolve this story, which hinges upon God killing the entire world population except Evan and his family OR depriving Evan, and the audience, of the cathartic flood. I have to admit, they come up with a solution that is actually earned. The special effects take over, and the transition from Bruce Almighty-esque comedy to Dante's Peak style demolition is jarring. But it doesn't feel as stupid as it could. By the way, this does not look like 200 million dollars, and if the budget was kept reasonable, say 60 mill or so, I could see this turning a nice profit as a family comedy, especially in the more religious areas of the country. I can imagine church groups liking this quite a bit, actually. But as it stands now, it just ain't grand or funny enough to be a tentpole summer film, and I hope it doesn't hurt Carell's career, as it really ain't his fault.
And here's "The Rev" with his opinion. It's a little complicated, a little mixed, but a good, spoiler-free read. Enjoy!
Ok, so here's the scoop. Apparently the folks behind Evan Almighty are trying feverishly to capitalize on the "let's make a movie about God/Jesus" craze and hope that all mainstream Christians will make them richer than their wildest dreams. In this case, it might work. EA is sweet enough, and its treatment of how God works will totally win people over. This won't go down in history as another "Passion of the Christ," but a decent opening and a strong enough word of mouth between families and Christians might get it over the 100 million mark. When I first heard about this, just like everyone else, I thought, "What is Steve Carell doing!? But God can work miracles right? Yes He can, but Steve Oedekerk can't.
Pretty much everything in the movie is a steroetype of what you've seen before. Lauren Graham as the unbelieveing wife who comes around, John Goodman as the friend first but eventual blow hard with alterior motives, and Wanda Sykes as the wisecracking assistant. John Michael Higgins and Jonah Hill (really, in this movie?) get a few good lines, but they're not funny, really, just amusing. Morgan Freeman doesn't get enough screen time! Who didn't wet their pants a little when you first heard he was playing God in Bruce Almighty? But he's here just to tidy up the plot lines. Finally, there's SC. He doesn't try too hard, like I feared he might, and he works. I don't know how else to say it. He's more of a cross between Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks-two parts crazy, one part distinguished-and you like him for it. After seeing this movie, you'll know why he was crazy enough to take the role. Mad props should go out to the effects team, who did a much better job than the movie deserved. But to be totally honest, it doesn't work.
And here's why it doesn't. The script is lazy. Hey, he's a modern day Noah, so it should just write itself, right? I want this to be a spoiler-free review, but come on! How many times can the dog bite SC in the nuts? Every joke is telegraphed, but the audience I was watching it with didn't seem to care. They only wanted to see the happy ending, which they got, of course.
I know I've kind of trashed the flick, but there is one more thing I should mention. Since I saw it, I can't shake the feeling that it made me a ltttle happy. I'm aware of its shortcomings, but there's something about it that I liked. Maybe its just the spirit of it. It wants to be fun and it wants to have a real purpose. You can't deny that charm and you can't help but smile from time to time. No doubt you'll grow more from watching this than all the other summer blockbusters combinecd. Will Evan Almighty drown in the flood of those movies? I have a feeling it will keep its head above water.
If you use this, call me The Rev.
-
+ Expand All
-
first
-
had to do it. :(
-
Now that's har to get...
-
Now that's hard to get...
-
I thought I corrected my spelling before I hit "Submit". Now I double posted with both versions.
-
I was wondering why no one cried PLANT for the first one: cuz it's still early.
-
evan almighty has also chosen hd-dvd and here's why..
-
I was wondering why no one cried PLANT for the first one: cuz it's still early.
-
last paragraph.
-
I agree with both these. It's better than I expected and than it had any right to be. But it had a positive message without being too preachy, and wasn't just a complete rehash of the first one. Graham was underused and Freeman had very little screentime too. Carell made some unfunny gags pretty funny. The animals are cool and the effects look ok. There are better comedies out there (Knocked Up) and better family films in the weeks to come,( Ratatouille), but while this isn't stellar, it's also not awful and isn't a constant insult to the intelligence of the audience. At the least it's worth a rental.
-
At the very end there's a joke with God meeting the Wanda Sykes character. 'How would you like to be God for a week?' Like the end of Modern Problems. Give the comical black lady the powers. What a hoot!
-
Kinda what I figured.
It looks like a formulaic phoned in family comedy. Not great. Not awful. Just there. Something to stick on during the holidays when you're waiting for the turkey timer to pop. Nothing wrong with filler comedy I suppose. Not every flick is meant to change the landscape. Some things are just safe bets - sure things.
To say that it was better that Bruce Almighty isn't that bad of a thing. BA was a fun enough little flick and certainly a step up from some of Carrey other post Liar Liar crap. If this movie is better or even on par with BA then it's got my money.
God gotta eat. :) -
This should get to 150. I dont see how anyone who says this will be a flop has any credibility.
-
Can't he just snap his fingers or twinkle his nose?
That could be a good sequel. "God Almight". Seems obvious. -
infact, its pretty good. I really cant think of anything bad to say about it. the cast was great, theres no slow parts, and I had a good time watching it.
-
This film sounds like the opposite of torture porn BSB. Maybe it should be lumped into the "sequel porn," I've been reading so much about.
-
Just wondering if the advertising campaign made Mori recoil in horror.
-
Saw it tonight at a screening at the Arclight in Hollywood. Didn't see BRUCE ALMIGHTY; I really like this movie. Not so much a comedy as a thought provoking tale of how God talks to us (yes I'm a Christian...) with comedy and thrills. Will it hold up for a second viewing? Perhaps. I wished the pending flood threat had been tied to more current concerns about global warming and some politiical concerns about polution controls harming the economy (hmmmm ) as I think it would have more immeditae impact, but the way it's handled keeps the movie evergreen. (assuming we live and prosper that long). Peace - 20+ish!
-
Thing 1: Didn't God promise the world would never be cleansed by flood again?
Thing 2: If the world would flood, the Christians shouldn't be excited about the apocalypse. They should be pissed off that the liberal global warming crowd was right. -
Who thinks this looks like the Santa Claus recyled with Noah?
-
I wont be buying it.
-
Yep, it did remind me of that. And the Noah story is Old Testament, so it can appeal to Jews (and Muslims) too!!!
-
maybe its funnier? doubt it.
-
Anyone else see the new trailer for this cheese playing with Knocked Up? Holy crap did those flood effects at the end of the trailer look awful... Universal, you spent how much money on this shit???
-
riding up and down on the white-bearded Carell yelling "FUCK ME NOAH!"
-
my blonde.
-
Sounds like a good film for making time fly. Just like the first.
-
"I think we are meant to believe it is the same guy . . . "
We are? I never thought that. -
not a huge step up, for a sequel. especially when Bruce made over $500 million domestically.I think this one is going to be huge, and Steve Carell is truly going to be a superstar. I'm happy for that, but I hope he still does smaller stuff as well. more Apatow movies, more Office...of course, I guess now Apatow is a big star, too...maybe we'll see a remake of Ben-Hur, with a $500 million budget, starring Carell, written by Apatow! Seth Rogen will soap Carell down in a gay sauna, but hollywood will delete the scene.
-
it did 243mil domestically & it cost 80mil (before p&a), but who's counting?
-
First, Steve Carell can do no wrong. Second, who's Jim Carrey?
I seem to remember a guy who made some good funny movies back in the day but for some reason wanted to do dramatic work that was waayyy out of his range. Oh yeah, Jim Carrey. Guess we'll be seeing a true sequel to The Mask sooner than later now that Carell is the go-to funny man now along with Seth Rogan. -
and the $125 included the marketing and PR...but same point. Evan Almighty is going to be HUGE...here in LA there are billboards on every street practically.
-
I heard the budget on this went over and ended up around $175m so i guess they're screwed by the first reviewers reckoning.
-
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32913
-
It's not Morgan Freeman... It's Billy Dee Williams!
-
which is good, because the old Tom Hanks hasn't had a good movie in years.
-
They did a piss poor job at covering the stink on this one. We can all tell it sucks right off the bat. I gave Bruce Almighty a shot, I won't make the same mistake with this one. No matter how much I like Steve Carrell.
-
I think so anyway, barring an improbable deus ex machina. The battle for butts in seats is just too challenging this year. EVAN has every chance of losing an absolute ton of money, even after all sources come in. I was surprised KNOCKED UP (also Universal) cost $30 M w/o big name stars. As wildly popular as that's been, it likely barely makes it to break-even at $60 M domestic box office. Profits will have to come from overseas, DVDs, cable, and rentals. EVAN is hardly as rosie with a budget 6/7 times higher. If EVAN does double KU, it's still on track to lose as much as #100 M. And God forbid (pun intended) if the critics yawn or tear it up. It won't hurt Carell so much, but Shadyac may never work in this town for awhile. As producer/director I wonder how much of his own money is in this studio year-killer? How irresponsible is it that he couldn't control costs on his own picture? Not saying this won't do okay compared to other comedies,(though the 2 reviews here makes me wonder), but this project debuts so far underwater, it's just a question of whether your standard disaster or one of Biblical proportions. Universal still has a couple of outs. Their only other summer tentpole, BOURNE3, if it does as well as previous entries, they might recoup EVAN losses. And then the cast heavy AMERICAN GANGSTER in December could make their year. God be with them and beware of anyone selling opportunities in Arks.
-
He'll invite animals into a wooden ark, then lock it, set fire to it and film it as "an artistic statement"
-
the "fuck me santa!" lady from bad santa? or did she just kill the fat kid from bad santa?
-
one, every sequel they've {stoned studio exectives} made to a hysterical jim carrey movie without jim carrey or barely anything at all from the original makes people's eyes bleed and keeps people away in droves. and two, yes, it's the santa clause crossed with noah's ark and jesus christ superstar. and no one fucking noticed from the first announcement they were gonna do this and that's fucked up. but, i do like watching steve and morgan freeman and john goodman and no, not fucking wanda sykes do their stuff. and plus, yes it does look and feel like it could be a small improvement on bruce almighty and it's PG. so, it's worth watching on a...get ready for it.....a fucking rainy day. {no pun intended}.
-
anyone with a brain {or half} will see ANYTHING with ben stiller, robin williams, dick van dyke, ricky gervais, mickey rooney, steve coogan, owen wilson, a big t-rex {skeleton or not.}, anything set in new york city, {whether or not it was actually filmed there.} or based on a fucking children's book. and no matter how much boring, cliched' or fun these movies are, they will STILL make a shit load of money. there. hope that helps.
-
it had such a good idea - given a down on his luck guy the power of god for a while but they should have gone a little darker and have the power corrupt Bruce and he begins to be more evil and vengeful to those who cross him - let his powers grow and when God comes to take them back Bruce refuses to let them go. So God has to lay some smack down on Bruce - plus then you could have the corny hollywood finish of Bruce hurting/upsetting his girlfriend - gives up his powers to be with his love and begging for forgiveness.
-
That is a core conceptual problem with this project. we've seen it all before and it wasn't really that funny then. The LEAST funny thing about PET DETECTIVE was the animals. It is NOT uproariously funny to see a monkey drinking from a cup or smoking a cigar or doing anything else "just like a human."
I like Steve Carell but nothing about this movie looks entertaining or interesting, ESPECIALLY if it's going to bludgeon us over the head with a lot of hackneyed, Christian preaching. -
Jun 08, 2007 12:08:58 PM CDT
BTW, Could somebody please spoil the ending for me?
by napoleondynamite
I don't want to go see this but I am kind of curious about how they resolve the need for a flood without killing everybody in the world. How do they make even the THREAT of God killing everbody in the world not seem appalling and horrific from the word go?
-
So, what? God is a lier and can't be trusted? Why does it have to be a flood? Oh, I get it - animals are funny. Earthquakes, fires, volcanoes aren't funny. They needed the Ark.
-
Our school systems blow these days. Definitely.
-
This would have been better with Billybob Thornton, I keep thinking.
-
Think God everybody
-
"a decent opening and a strong enough word of mouth between families and Christians might get it over the 100 million mark." --------
Ugh. Shut up. Unless you're a studio accountant, just shut the fuck up. -
Steve Carell is gold right now, add to the fact that Christians are going to see this in droves (they went out of their way not to offend them...well...any more than the premise might by nature), the fact that it's being pushed HEAVILY in the major cities (LA, NY, Chicago)...and the final nail in the coffin? it's coming out June 22nd...NOTHING else is being released that weekend, but limited release arthouse fare (not that I don't love me some of that, even with oceans and FF overflow, it's gonna pretty much destroy the weekend.I predict $90 mil opening weekend, putting it squarely in "guaranteed making money" territory.also, your knocked up facts are a little screwy. a movie like that does NOT need to double it's budget to make money necessarily. no huge marketing push, just some TV spots and a couple of myspace ads. plus, the word of mouth guarantees some DVD sales later, and decent legs on the film over the next few weeks. it's a hit, full stop.
-
care to elaborate? or did you just need to babble...?you're on a movie news website, brother...people talking about box office speculation for their own interest...well...if that gets you all upset, you might want to try lightening up
-
that there will be. Snakes.On a boat.
...because...of the snakes on things...the jokes from that movie. Dammit, I'm always too late to capitalize on running jokes. -
clever written scripts with well developed characters ( even Brick to a degree ), instead of millions of dollars of visual effects for laughs or easy slapstick....oooops...just remembered the Get Smart project...never mind.
-
Those failing Econ 101 are welcome to tune out..... Where do you think the theaters take their cut, or don't they share in the gross? Do they just show the films and provide the parking and seats for fun? That's why box office should be close to double the movie budget in order to be a success. Typically the studio gets only half the gross, the other half going to theater owners. Occasionally it may be 55/45, maybe slightly better, for a really popular flick. SPIDEY3 was aberrant in that Sony was able to front load the first week getting I think 75% and then reverting to about 50/50 after. Which was a great move in retrospect as the webslinger had no legs. Once you understand the split, you see the mountain EVAN has to climb. Movies, especially this year, have to make it the first weekend. Even if it does the $90 M open you suggest, with the typical 60% drop off to $36 M the next weekend, it likely will never make it to $160 M domestic with the way films have faded quickly. That's $80 M and still at least $130 M in the hole. I can't see this doing all that well in Europe since Christianity is so out of favor there. Carell is also NOT the draw Carrey was. And from all the commercials I've seen, I think they're spending quite a bit on marketing, like going all-in when already pot committed. Believe me the suits are plenty nervous about this one.
I think it needs to do close to $300 M domestic for them to light up their stogies. Not myself infallable, I allowed for a possible deus ex machina. Comedies are very popular this year, so who knows? Silly to argue about it. Quite possibly it won't make or lose that much money. We'll see who's right and I'll be happy to say I told ya so. But the odds are far better it will lose and lose large. -
My guess is that flooding will be due to some damn breaking so the ark will ride it out and the animals will be saved. The townspeople will have been out of the way and so on. God will then tell Evan, "You helped change the world with your faith and the flood will help bring water and nutirents to this valley." Or some other BS cop-out. BTW- I was deeply offended by Bruce Almighty. It would have been one thing if he was down on his luck or if he really screwed things up as God. Instead he bitches about a fairly ideal life and did a decent job filling in for the creator of the universe. Basically, it shat in the shallow end of the kiddie pool.
-
bands in Los Angeles. The only thing I'm curious about is how they get around the idea that God promised to never flood the Earth again? Or do they just never address it?
-
if it happens in real life...isn't it just...you know...real life happening? if you describe something in real life as a "deux ex machina", doesn't that imply that God (the writer, in this case) specifically chose for it to happen? or was that implication, since this is a quasi-religious film?and I do understand the 2-1 ration for a movie to break even, but that was true in the days before DVD's...if a $30 mil comedy makes $60mil in it's theaterical release (and it's still going) it's guaranteed to make money. it's a hit, full stop. as I said.we'll see about Evan...personally, I think having a super weak opening weekend in terms of other films it's up against, is going to be huge. hell, I'll probably see it opening weekend jsut because there's NOTHING else to see. although I might be in mexico, I'm not sure. waiting on a call.on a side not, I've been playing around with my new HVX200, and I'm constantly creaming my pants. it's ridiculously fun.and I got a hot date for Ocean's 13 tonight! life is grand!
-
The way power mongers are wanking up religion these days, I can't even get into a lighthearted comedy without fuming over this war on science/gays/free thought etc. Shame, really.
-
Infact, i liked it.
-
As said before, where do I go to get your job.... Right that DVD sales are often the savior of bad box office. That's why release dates are on the heels now of the theatrical release. Just don't think even those will bail out EVAN. Which could be a hit and still not make money. We shouldn't leave out videogames and merchandising. I don't think it applies a lot to EVAN, but it's why box office really doesn't matter much to flicks like SPIDEY, SHREK, and PIRATES. Those pretty much can't lose, IMHO. It even kept SUPERMAN RETURNS from entering legendary debacle status. Speaking of PIRATES3 and risking cross posting hell, I finally saw it last night.... what an incredible piece of shite. I had no idea it was actually that bad. Makes 2 look like Gone With The Freakin' Wind. Where do I go to get those 3 hours back? And all those craggy nose-hair counting closeups. Ugh. A half hour in, they're talking, talking. One hour, more talking. Two hours, OMG, THEY'RE STILL TALKING! SOMEBODY, MAKE IT STOP!!!! The worst neverending movie-going experience I've had since being dragged to see DaVINCI CODE by rabid readers of that tripe. And anyone (just about everyone on this site but Harry) who panned SM3 and pushed this franchise killer... here's a shoebox for your pirate stuff, leave your credentials on the desk, and enjoy your new assignment selling Daewoos. Hasta la vista y no conseguir secuestrado.
-
I'm not gonna call that first review a plant, but...seriously....bonhomie?
And how exactly is it "ironic" that he thinks animals are dirty. That doesn't sound ironic at all. Not even in the Alanis Morisette sense. -
I look at this mess of a flim and I wonder:
Why does the nbc show the office suck so badly? The best steve carrell has is the 40 year old virgin and his bit in Anchorman.
Why is it that Morgan Freeman doing this and not somethng like lean on me 2?
...and why is it legal that everybody copy jim carrey's comedy style? -
What is your definition of hot? Not all ideas on hot are predictable. There are other subtle avenues of hot outside the obvious Playmate mold. In bizzaro land, if Lauren G was a waitress or something you would be like "damn our waitress is hot" and proceed to fall in love
-
That's how it's spelled, and it's latin for "the god out of a machine." Like a thinking machine, or a sentient computer. I don't know what you guys thought it meant...
-
War? Is there a war going on? Damn, I miss all the good stuff.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 209 total posts 207 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 160 total posts 97 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 144 total posts 77 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 68 total posts 68 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 64 total posts 60 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 480 total posts 55 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 53 total posts 50 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 118 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 182 total posts 27 posts