My rating: Not to be missed

When Bruce Almighty scored a major box-office hit (and actually scored its entire budget back) on its opening weekend, I, like many others, attributed it largely to the fact that it was a nasty Memorial Day weekend nobody could do anything else, so they just went to the movies. Then I saw the movie, and I had to change my mind. Then I bought the DVD, and by the time I had seen it for the third time, my mind was completely transformed.

As a youth pastor, movies like this are what I live for. Something I can show to the kids, and besides being a hilarious movie, it also opens the door for many future Bible studies. Clean for the most part (skipping Jennifer Aniston's bathroom orgasm scene), well-written, and have I said hilarious? Jim Carrey does comedy best, there's no doubt about that. He was in his prime for this flick.

It's the theme of this movie that causes me to want to jump up and give Tom Shadyac a big pat on the back. Thank you, Tom Shadyac, for so cleverly depicting struggling with our faith and making it so easy to laugh at. Thank you, Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, for writing a story so original and fresh while being so full of meaning. You guys will be on my Christmas card list if you send me your addresses. And if I send Christmas cards this year.

And so, I recommend this movie. Over and over again. The scene where Evan attempts to anchor the news in spite of divine intervention will cause you to need a spare pair of trousers, and the ending may well have you in tears of a totally different kind. It's the full range of emotions, and it points us toward faith. I think it's what I would myself be if I were embodied as a movie.

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