Bruce Almighty

Frustrated at being confined to 'zany' material, a small-time TV news reporter (Carrey) is desperate to shed his 'wacky Bruce' persona and become a sober anchorman. Cruelly thwarted, he rants and rails at God's injustice so much that He (Freeman, typecast) announces He's taking a holiday and leaving Bruce in charge. As high concept movies go, this is extremely high. Celestially so, in fact. But director Shadyac and his three scriptwriters prove much more fallibly flawed than their omnipotent hero. A fun half hour follows a clunky set up, with the gleefully obnoxious Bruce testing his new powers - producing one great gag about the corpse of Jimmy Hoffa, of all things. But too often it feels as if the film-makers were terrified of America's vocal moral majority. There's nothing to offend anyone here, except those of us allergic to the sentimental life-lesson glop that constitutes the final act's redemption of an asshole.