Evan Almighty

I have a movie recommendation, a funny family type film called "Evan Almighty". Now, I'm not the most religious of people, but I know a lot of my readers are, and I thought this film was great. I know it got panned by the critics, and the ending is a bit "much", but boy did I laugh hard (hurt the stitches!) throughout the movie. For those of you who ARE religious, or want to teach your kids about the stories in the bible, this movie could be a learning tool.

The brief synopsis is Steve Carrell, as Evan, is a new congressman and is approached by God on his first day of work and told to build an ark. God has a sense of humor and makes Evan grow a long beard that grows back too fast to shave, and makes him wear robes, etc. Evan finds it incredibly stressful to both try and hide his new mission (and growth and robes) while also trying to start his new job as congressman. In one particularly funny scene, Evan explains to his fellow congressman that the beard is for his wife's pleasure as she has a "Loggins and Messina crush going on!" I haven't heard or thought of Loggins and Messina since college when they were the favorite band of my roommate Bryan, at the time! The picture below is Loggins and Messina. I definitely see a resemblance! I bet that joke went over many people's heads, unfortunately.

Ahh... good memories....

Anyway, I also liked the various messages in the film: environmentalism, kindness to all creatures, lots of animal footage, and the last message was that ARK stands for Acts of Random Kindness - a bit forced - but still sweet. I would recommend this movie for kids, as well as adults. I love Steve Carrell and think he's a great actor and funny man. "40-Year-Old Virgin" was a comedic masterpiece, and "The Office" is my favorite T.V. show. This movie is not as good as either of those two, but it's sweet.

This is not the usual type of movie I would recommend, as I normally like the indie films, the quirky characters and dark humor. This was more slapstick in parts than what I normally go for. But I really liked it.