Evan Almighty 2007

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Evan Almighty may not be enough to make you shout 'Hallelujah,' but it's not the cinematic equivalent of a plague, either. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The divine guidance afforded the title character does not extend to script doctoring. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Evan Almighty runs out of comic invention early, and the filmmakers fall back on what real politicians do when they exhaust their small stash of ideas: brainless piety. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: This is idiotic, but it's so good-natured I didn't mind. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: God is played, once again, by Morgan Freeman, whose suave charm can sell all sorts of silliness, but not the amiable imbecility peddled by this film. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: The pieces don't all fit into place and much of what should be its emotional substance is simply rushed. But as a chance to see Carell fill the screen with his brand of angst and Freeman to charm, it's worth a visit. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: When the film ultimately does deliver on the threat of a flood, there's not much to think other than that the special effects are adequate and that Carell's movie is one big washout. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Historically, throwing money at a comedy has never made it funnier, because there's nothing more cost-effective than a joke, and nothing more ruinous than a spectacle trampling all over it. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Somehow this boat floats along, a lasting tribute to lightweight construction. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Shockingly, this flood is less an allergic reaction to any global catastrophe and more the result of what happens when a studio has too much cash to blow on a wild effects sequence. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Evan Almighty hasn't quite decided what it wants to be, and you get the feeling that if it weren't for another amazing arc -- Carell's recent career trajectory -- it wouldn't exist at all. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The sum effect is mild yet strange, lacking both the zing of smart comedy and the cohesion of sensible plotting. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: If there is one thing that kills comedy, it's sanctimoniousness. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Here's the funniest thing: In trying desperately to reconnect with religious Americans, Hollywood assumes religious Americans are so dumb they'll laugh at anything. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: If the Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways, he or she had absolutely nothing to do with the making of Evan Almighty, a predictable and totally typical piece of Hollywood comedy overkill. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Nothing can offset the picture's dutiful Sunday-school intentions or the generic qualities of the CG animals that follow Noah in twosies. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: Evan Almighty belongs to that sorry cinema subgenre, Comedy without the Funny Bits. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: [Kids] will enjoy the animal antics best, especially when the critters start doing their part to help build the ark. Parents will have to settle for the few inspired bits by Carell, stuck with the Job-like task of keeping this leaky bucket afloat. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Though far from a disaster of Biblical proportions, Evan Almighty is a mild, sporadically funny comedy in an oversized sentimental frame. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Evan Almighty combines the easiest elements of lazy comedy with the most indulgent elements of lazy disaster movies. Even Mr. Carell, gamely mugging and wincing and snaring the random reflex laugh, gets pulled down with the ship. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: What makes the film transcend its limitations is Carell, whose square, Father Knows Best demeanor belies a supreme comic self-confidence and whose implacability in the face of the movie's CGI-intensive animal antics can be marvelous to behold. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: At times the visuals can be impressive, but the climactic flood -- the ark's raison d'etre -- looks surprisingly cheesy and fake. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Even the editing betrays a sense of desperation about the material. It's cut so tight that no one ever breathes, they just talk. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Once or twice the film reveals its good intentions and gets a laugh, but mostly it feels like a store-bought mix of jokes and sentiments. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The highlights of Evan Almighty aren't the supernatural moments but the scenes in which Carell grows comically flustered with his situation. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: This film is to faith what a box of animal crackers is to nature. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Though the strain sometimes shows, Carell's skill with physical comedy is a saving grace that makes Evan Almighty at least tolerable. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a gentle, warm, 'big tent' big-budget comedy with all the rough edges rubbed off. Not an edge to be found. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Ultimately, Evan Almighty is too sappy, too sanctimonious. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: While I admit that Evan Almighty isn't as ineptly constructed and poorly realized as its predecessor, this still isn't a wise investment of anyone's entertainment dollar. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: For a movie that's supposed to be about reconnecting with God and ourselves, and cherishing the Earth we live on, Evan Almighty is a surprisingly dispassionate picture. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: This is a limp, slow-moving and desperately unfunny comedy, a sequel to Bruce Almighty and about the only thing that could possibly make that minor Jim Carrey film look better in retrospect. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: This is the Old Testament minus the wrath, divine retribution as chicken soup for the soul -- where's the fun in that? Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Dressing thy star in vestments of outrageous design and a wig maketh not a joke. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Evan Almighty is a paper-thin alleged comedy with a laugh drought of biblical proportions, and a condescendingly simplistic spiritual message. It is so bad, I came close to throwing my caffeinated beverage at the screen. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Neither biblical disaster nor heavenly treat, the underwhelming Evan Almighty can still lay claim to a superlative: it's the bravest (or craziest) movie of 2007. Read more

Anna Smith, Time Out: 'Evan Almighty' misses so many tricks, it ultimately misses the mark. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's an almighty, humorless bore. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: The problems with Evan Almighty mostly boil down to questions of scale. The movie warns of an imminent flood, yet delivers only sprinkles of laughter or anything approaching magic. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: This is PG-rated proselytizing tinged with Al Gore self-righteousness, all with the narrative thrust of a film about the apocalypse starring Kirk Cameron. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The extensive mayhem by tsunami that Shadyac unleashes is portrayed as comic and casualty-free, but of course adults can't help but be disturbed by imagery of a catastrophe that would have cost many thousands of lives being dismissed so casually. Read more