Evan Almighty (2007)

Director:

Tom Shadyac

Writers (WGA):

Steve Oedekerk (screenplay)
Steve Oedekerk (story) ...

Release Date:

22 June 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

A comedy of biblical proportions

Plot:

God contacts Congressman Evan Baxter and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood.

Plot Keywords:

God | Ark | Congressman | Change | Tools

Awards:

1 win & 10 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Dec. 19	8:00 PM	E
Sun. Dec. 20	1:00 PM	E

Cast

Steve Carell	...	Evan Baxter
Morgan Freeman	...	God
Lauren Graham	...	Joan Baxter
Johnny Simmons	...	Dylan Baxter
Graham Phillips	...	Jordan Baxter
Jimmy Bennett	...	Ryan Baxter
John Goodman	...	Congressman Long
Wanda Sykes	...	Rita
John Michael Higgins	...	Marty
Jonah Hill	...	Eugene
Molly Shannon	...	Eve Adams
Harve Presnell	...	Congressman Burrows
P.J. Byrne	...	Evan's Staffer
Ralph Louis Harris	...	Evan's Staffer (as Ralph Harris)
Arden Myrin	...	Evan's Staffer

Also Known As:

Bruce Almighty 2 (USA) (working title)
Bruce: The Second Coming (USA) (working title)
The Passion of the Ark (USA) (original script title)
A Volta do Todo Poderoso (Brazil) [pt]
Aman tanrim! (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Evan Allmächtig (Germany) [de]
Evan den allsmäktige (Sweden) [sv]
Evan le tout-puissant (Canada: French title) [fr]
Evan taivaanlahja (Finland) [fi]
Evan tout-puissant (France) [fr]
Evan, a minden6ó (Hungary) [hu]
Kõikvõimas Evan (Estonia) [et]
Noe gia mia vdomada (Greece) [el]
Regreso del todopoderoso (Argentina) [es]
Sigo como dios (Spain) [es]
Un'impresa da Dio (Italy) [it]

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild rude humor and some peril.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG | Netherlands:6 | UK:PG | Finland:K-7 | Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/6 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Australia:G | Germany:6 | Malaysia:18PL | Hong Kong:I | South Korea:All | Taiwan:GP | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | New Zealand:PG | Sweden:7 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

For a cloudburst scene, it took hours to raise a pipework "rain rig" by crane over the Ark and then to position the hundreds of extras and set the equipment. After a practice take, the filmmakers saw an attractive cloud which they hoped to use as background while Evan speaks -except that the rain rig would be in the shot. During the hour it took to move away the cranes, of course the cloud moved away. The area was reset for the cloudburst scene (another hour) and by then the day's sunlight was spent. The scene was put off for another day.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The European map on the wall in the hallway is totally incorrect. Portugal seems to be part of Spain, Turkey is smaller, there's a new country on eastern Mediterranean and Northern African countries are dislocated.

Quotes:

God: I now issue a new commandment: Thou shalt do the dance.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Hollywood on Set: Evan Almighty/Eagle Vs. Shark/A Mighty Heart" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Revolution

Evan All-Gone-Wrong!

If like me, you enjoyed the first film "Bruce Almighty", my advice to you is not to get your hopes up too high; in fact disregard any hope you possess for this movie if you are above the age of 12 and have any film-sense at all.

Without giving too much away, the story sees Evan (Bruce's nemesis co-anchor from the first film) move home with his family to the Virginian suburbs to "Change the World" with a new political path. What follows is a rather far-fetched and quite 'silly' storyline, which is obviously set out to target young children as the main target audience. Unlike it's predecessor, Evan Almighty is a family orientated film with the ambiguous genre of 'comedy' tagged upon it's misleading position of 'sequel' to which some would regard a modern-day comedy classic that can be enjoyed by a slightly more mature, upscale audience.

Generally speaking, Evan Almighty comprises itself of terrible cinematic values. The acting; omit Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman, was rigid and many of the characters were seemingly thrown in to use up the unnecessarily large budget issued for the production. Additionally, the cast includes acting legend John Goodman who makes an appearance as a heel and is seen just a few times in the movie's entirety; I didn't quite buy the character though and thought the storyline from which he was involved in lacked depth even for a family comedy. Every other character in the movie (especially the wife and kids!) deserve a mention for their acting so cheesy it could fill a king-size Kiev. Be warned though; it is the typical Americanized cheddarfest associated with many mainstream family-orientated films, so I'd advise you defend yourself with the nearest grater in sight.

It may seem the movie is worthless thus-far, however, it does have -some- promising aspects. The CGI was outstanding and it was clear that a lot of time went into modelling the Ark and producing water effects and animation of the computer generated animals towards the end. The particles, renders and textures used were aesthetically stellar. Although part of me couldn't help, but think these were undeserving to a movie with such poor ideals and were, in my opinion, 'too good' for this piece of cinema and carried the movie throughout.

Overall I view this film as a disaster in terms of continuing what was a franchise with huge potential, but unfortunately it fell short to a bad conclusion in the Almighty series and approaching the end of the film I had set my expectations high for an epic and somehow meaningful finale to make up for the mediocre content I had so far witnessed. This wasn't the case and I was deeply disappointed and confused come the closing credits. As I sat discontent I couldn't help, but think the movie wasn't anywhere near as 'Mighty' as I hoped for. In many ways the film reminded me of a watered down "Night at the Museum" as it showed similar styling and characteristics, but unfortunately was leagues below even that.

I give this movie 3 out of 10, as it is watchable, but it's definitely one to be avoided! If you HAVE to see this film, be prepared for disappointment as 'mildly entertained' is the best you could hope to obtain in watching the said production.