Hey all. Capone in Chicago here.

There's nothing patently offensive about this, the most expensive comedy ever made. Quite the contrary. This is a PG-rated film that screened to church groups even before it was shown to most of the nation's critics. True story. And the money is definitely on the screen. The hundreds of paired animals who get on Evan Baxter's (Steve Carell, reprising his role as the news anchor from BRUCE ALMIGHTY) ark are an impressive visual achievement, as is the massive flood that occurs in the film's final act. But it's a shame that this high-priced work couldn't have worked on a few more laughs and not played it so damn safe.

After putting forth the two most impressive (and decided R-rated) film roles of his career in THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, Carell has apparently decided to play it safe for a while, starting with EVAN ALMIGHTY, in which Baxter leaves his new job in favor of becoming a local politician. Unlike the original Jim Carrey work, this film does not give Evan the opportunity to become God (embodied by Morgan Freeman once again) for a time. Instead God wants Evan to build a massive ark in his Washington, D.C. suburb for a flood that is coming. This doesn't bode well for the career of the junior Congressman, who has barely had time to unpack his boxes. But that doesn't stop the obviously corrupt Rep. Long (John Goodman) from setting his sights on Baxter for help on a new real estate development bill that would allow building to be done in certain areas of public parks. If you smell and environmental message approaching, you have a worthy olfactory system. In fact, just about every aspect of EVAN ALMIGHTY is highly predictable, and that's one of many huge problems the film possesses.

Long couldn't be more obviously evil if you plastered a twirly mustache on his upper lip. People you'd expect to be intelligent play it so dumb for the sake of the plot. For example, Evan's wife (Lauren Graham) barely bats an eye when her husband's grows a beard in a matter of hours (to look the Noah part, I guess). The Congressman's staff (which includes Wanda Sykes, John Michael Higgins, and the reliable Jonah Hill, who does manage to get a few funny lines in) react to Baxter having an army of animals following him for about five seconds, and then just accept it because... well, actually I'm not sure why. Screenwriter Steve Oedekerk and director Tom Shadyac (both of whom return from the first film) seem content to let what little plausibility this film might have go right out the window for the sake of a good bird poop joke and a few expensive visual effects.

There aren't any terrible performances here, and the film's intentions, however obviously, are good, but you'd figure a little more graceful an execution might have been higher on the filmmakers' list of priorities. At the center of it all, Carell manages to pull a few jokes out of his tattered robe that probably weren't on the page, so EVAN ALMIGHTY at least has a few laughs, even if they do feel forced sometimes. It would not have taken a miracle to make this movie work, just a little actual effort and maybe a lot less concern for offending those who take this God stuff so seriously. This feels like a classic example of a film produced by committee, and that's a sin.

Capone