The Phoenix Network:
The Phoenix
Boston
|
Portland
|
Providence
Stuff@Night
WFNX
Live Radio
|
On Demand
Adult
About
|
Advertise
Moonsigns
|
Band Guide
|
Blogs
|
In Pictures
Movies
Features
|
Reviews
-->
See all in Reviews
Do the write thing
Reviews
Evan Almighty
The movie of the summer for the timid Christian paranoiacs
By
MICHAEL ATKINSON
|
June 20, 2007
EVAN ALMIGHTY
1.5
Stars
VIDEO: Watch the trailer for
Evan Almighty
.
Finally, the 21st-century redo of the
Oh, God!
franchise we’ve all been asking for, after a fashion — and the movie of the summer for the timid Christian paranoiacs of Middle America who think that
Pirates of the Caribbean
is too pagan for their Bible-thumped grade-schoolers. For everyone else, Tom Shadyac’s sequel to the lackluster Jim Carrey homily should be as indigestible as prechewed holiday ham. We pick up with TV newsworm-turned-congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell), who’s been chosen by Morgan Freeman’s crinkly, Benetton-outfitted Godhead to be the new Noah — and, yes, the prospect of big-death Apocalypse spreads an odd and unfunny gloom over the head-trauma slapstick and non-stop bird-crap jokes. (Only Wanda Sykes, as the movie’s obligatory reaction-shot deadpanner, exhibits a functioning wit.) If the treacly, Reagan-era-style piety and angel choruses don’t sour your gut, the Biblical ignorance may — the Sunday-school field-trip chaperones will have a devil of a time explaining how the Great Flood was, in Freeman’s feel-good words, “a love story.”
Related
:
The Bucket List
Doesn't kick it soon enough
Ten Items or Less
Worth checking-out
Feast of Love
Raves from Mr. Skin
More
The Bucket List
Doesn't kick it soon enough
Ten Items or Less
Worth checking-out
Feast of Love
Raves from Mr. Skin
Wanted
A knockoff lacking zing
Little Miss Sunshine
Super freaks
Stranger than Fiction
Submits to the temptations of clichés and bathos
The ultimate TEACHER movie
Movies . . . one profession at a time
Horton Hears a Who!
Good-natured, egalitarian, and mildly stupid
Control freaks
Get Smart dumbs down
Shaggy frog
Interview: Michel Gondry goes lo-fi
Less
Topics
:
Reviews
,
Morgan Freeman
,
Tom Shadyac
,
Wanda Sykes
,
More
,
Morgan Freeman
,
Tom Shadyac
,
Wanda Sykes
,
Steve Carell
,
Jim Carrey
,
Celebrity News
,
Entertainment
,
Movie Stars
,
Less
Share
:
Rss
Email
Print
Comments
Add a Comment
Today's Event Picks
[FILM]
NEWMAN’S OWN: “TRIBUTE TO PAUL NEWMAN”
Plus 1 more >>
ARTICLES BY MICHAEL ATKINSON
DREAM CATCHER
| November 25, 2008
Karen Shakhnazarov at the MFA
ENDS OF THE EARTH
| November 07, 2008
The 20th Boston Jewish Film Festival reaches deep and far
KINO PRAVDA
| August 26, 2008
‘Envisioning Russia’ at the MFA
DARKNESS VISIBLE
| May 19, 2008
The HFA’s ‘Unseen Noir’ unveils America’s post-war gloom
FILM ON THE FRINGE
| March 25, 2008
Jewishfilm.2008 explores the frontiers
See all articles by:
MICHAEL ATKINSON
MOST POPULAR
Most Viewed
Most Emailed
THE BIG HURT: THE YOUTUBE ANIME MYSTERY
What the hell is wrong with the Internet? Thorpe utterly fails to investigate . . .
VANISHING BOSTON
A field guide to Boston's 'lasting' treasures — to be enjoyed before they're razed in favor of chain stores
PS3, PLEASE
Resistance 2 deserves a shot
SCOTT WEILAND | “HAPPY” IN GALOSHES
Softdrive/New West (2008)
FAST-BREAKING MUSIC
You heard it here first
INTERVIEW: JILL LEPORE AND JANE KAMENSKY
Two historians pen a bodice ripper
MENINO'S MOSQUE
The bizarre story behind the construction of Boston's most controversial building
VANISHING BOSTON
A field guide to Boston's 'lasting' treasures — to be enjoyed before they're razed in favor of chain stores
FREEDOM WATCH: JAILHOUSE BLOC
Want to know the real reason the law-and-order set backs mandatory-minimum sentencing? They get their pockets lined by the 'prison-industrial complex.'
SWEDISH SCHNAPPS
The Martin Beck mysteries
HOT TOPICS
Daniel Day-Lewis
,
Jack Black
,
Michael Clayton
,
Michael Haneke
,
Osama bin Laden
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
,
Michael Jackson
,
Paris Hilton
,
Paul Thomas Anderson
,
Tommy Lee Jones
More Topics
. . .
LATEST SLIDESHOWS
Photos: Peter Simon's new book
Slideshow: Vanishing Boston
All Slideshows
Explore your Fantasies
Featured Articles in Reviews
:
Were the World Mine
Review: Milk
Review: Australia
Andy Warhol: Denied
Four Christmases
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
|
Sign In
|
Register
thePhoenix.com:
Home
Listings
Editor's Picks
News
Music
Film + TV
Food + Drink
Life
Arts
Rec Room
Video
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
Boston Phoenix
Portland Phoenix
Providence Phoenix
StuffAtNight
People2People
MassWeb Printing
G8Wave
About Us
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Work For Us
Sitemap
RSS
Mobile
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group