Evan Almighty

Reviewed by Alicia Glass
September 10, 2007

Director: Tom Shadvac Studio: Universal Pictures MPAA: PG Website: Click Here

Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman in Evan Almighty.

Newly elected Congressman Evan Baxter has a mission of biblical proportions: God came and said, build me an ark and prepare for the flood.

Okay, yes, there really was a flood. And yes, Baxter needed a big-big-BIG boat to save all those people. But come on. The movie had the main character Baxter going through so many physical changes for slapstick comedy, it just made him look ridiculous. There was no point to making him look like Noah, other than to get him to calm down a bit I guess. Maybe God-as-Morgan-Freeman thought it was a lark. Maybe the movie was so lacking in substance that they needed filler. Who knows.

So Congressman Evan Baxter gets a visit from God, who tells him, you know it, there’s a flood coming and build me an ark. And it turns out, the environmental bills that fellow Congressman Long is trying to get Baxter into, is causing enough damage to nearby parks to indeed, cause a flood at the right (or wrong) time. But that’s only after some time of building the ark, stocking it with two of lots of animal types (who just show up out of nowhere or escape the zoos apparently), changing physically to look like Old-Testament Noah right down to the bleached linen robes, and alienating everyone around Baxter, friends and family alike. At least when the flood comes and Congressman Long gets his just desserts, the only “nyah nyah” moves from Baxter is that silly victory dance of his at the end.

Evan Almighty really isn’t worth seeing, even for the animals. It is nice to see Morgan Freeman as God again, spouting wisdom about how ARK stands for “a random act of kindness”, but we can get that elsewhere. Don’t bother, let this particular ark sink.