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Bruce Almighty (2003)
In director Tom Shadyac's fanciful comedy:
- during the opening title credits, a discontented
Buffalo NY WKBW-TV field reporter, Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) was
only assigned to cover the worst, most superficial and inconsequential
lightweight stories; as he was reporting at Mama and Vol Kowolski's
(Lillian Adams and Christopher Darga) downtown bakery shop on its
30th anniversary and was forced - for health reasons - to wear
a hair-net; he asked himself: "God, why do you hate me?";
he interviewed the Kowolskis who were attempting to set a record
by making Buffalo's largest cookie at 10 feet, 4 inches; he mentioned
that the cookie represented "the Price of Buffalo" and
ended his pleasant, humorous local report with his signature closing
line: "And that's the way the cookie crumbles, I'm Bruce Nolan, Eyewitness
News"
- afterwards, Bruce complained to his sweet girlfriend
Grace (Jennifer Aniston) about his stagnant job: "I'll never
be an anchcorman, not with this. The job's right there, but I can't
reach it. Because every time they make me do this kind of stuff,
I have to act like a total goof in order to make it work. I have
no credibility"; at work, he appealed to his station's boss,
Jack Baylor (Philip Baker Hall) to be seriously considered for
the open news anchor position, challenging his nemesis - the "favorite" Evan
Baxter (Steve Carrell)
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Bruce's On-Camera Breakdown at Niagara Falls After
Losing the Lead News Anchor Position ("Eroding, eeeeroding,
eeeeerodding")
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- during Bruce's reporting of a story at Niagara Falls
while on the Maid of the Mist ferry, the station announced that
Evan had been appointed as the replacement news anchor; on-camera,
the freaked-out Bruce suffered a complete nervous breakdown; he
insulted Evan ("Let me just add another congratulations to
Evan Backstabber - pardon me, Bastard. Baxter, rather"), expressed
his disbelief: ("I guess that's how life is, isn't it? Some
people are drenched, freezing to death, on a stupid boat, with
a stupid hat, while others are in a comfy news studio, sucking
up all the glory"), and then verbally abused Bill (Dan Desmond),
the ferry owner: ("Tell me, why do you think I didn't get
the anchor job?...Is it my hair, Bill? Are my teeth not white enough?
Or, like the great falls, is the bedrock of my life eroding beneath
me? Eroding, eeeeroding, eeeeerodding"); he ended his report
with a fist and obscene sign-off: "Back to you, f--kers!";
when he returned to the office, he was immediately fired and thrown
out the door - literally, and shouted as he laid on his back: "That
is perfect! That is the motivation that i needed! right there!
thank you! Thank you, WKBW! Wimpy Kiddy Baby Whiners! That's what
that stands for! I'll see you on Channel 5, where they do the real
news!"
- to remedy his life's failures and disappointments,
the disgruntled Bruce complained to God (Morgan Freeman), first
envisioned as a black janitor in a large empty warehouse, who then
was transformed into God in a brightly-lit room - wearing a white
suit and tie; although Bruce was skeptical, God revealed to him
a long expanding file cabinet representing all of Bruce's life;
Bruce then played a guessing game with fingers behind his back
- and was shocked to see his own hand with "seven" fingers
- Bruce made the outrageous accusation that he could
perform God's job better: ("Fine! The gloves are off, God!
C'mon, lemme see a little wrath! Smite me, O mighty smiter! You're
the one who should be fired! The only one around here not doing
his job is You! ANSWER ME!"); he was offered the chance of
trying to be God himself for one week, but later learned that there
were two major rules - he couldn't tell anyone that he had God's
powers, and he couldn't interfere with free will
- Bruce experimented with his newfound powers in a
local diner, when he attempted to part the tomato soup in his bowl
in front of him - and it worked; God suddenly appeared next to
him and asked: "Having fun?"; as he strutted down the
street to the tune of "The Power!" ("I've got the
power"), he commanded a fire hydrant to burst and it explosively
sprayed water; he was also able to swap clothes with a fashionably-dressed
mannequin in a store window
- after Bruce came upon a gang of bullies that had
beaten him up earlier, he decided to teach them a lesson when they
wouldn't apologize to him (the hood leader (Noel Gugliemi) told
Bruce:
"We'll apologize the day a monkey comes out of my butt. Then
you get your 'sorry'. How about that?"); Bruce vengefully used
his powers to actually have a monkey painfully emerge from the leader's
back end
- Bruce realized that he would somehow have to answer
millions of prayers from worshippers; his first idea was to create
a system to receive the prayers by organizing all of them into
file cabinets; since it wasn't a "space-saver" idea and
was too noticeable, his next bright idea was to create Prayer Post-Its,
but again, he and the entire room were immediately plastered with
the yellow post-its; his final idea was to use an online solution: "I
need something with a lock, security, combination, a password" -
and he developed a website titled: "YAHWEH" - an AOL-like
computerized email-like system (Insta-Prayer) to receive the prayers
- the most outrageous scene came when Bruce sent powerful
"pleasurable" mental sensations into his girlfriend Grace
Connelly's mind; she experienced a 'no-contact' uncontrollable, mental
orgasm without human touch; while alone in her bathroom with intense
sexual arousal through his mental powers, she moaned as she fell
back on the toilet seat: "Oh, my God! Ooh!...Oh, God! Oh, Good
God!"; she appeared from the bathroom bedraggled, sex-hungry
and ready for more - and received a body-slam down into the bed;
the camera moved outside their one-bedroom apartment to view their
flickering lights and listen to Grace's continued loud moans of sexual
bliss
Grace's Entirely "Mental" Orgasm Created
by Bruce
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Grace Asking Bruce About Her Breasts: "Do
they look bigger to you?"
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- during breakfast the next morning, Grace observed
that her breasts had grown larger overnight (she asked: "I
woke up this morning and I felt like, like my boobs were bigger.
I mean, do they look bigger to you?"); Evan responded with
a double-entendre reply: "This has been the breast beckf..."
- with his newfound powers, Bruce was able to solve
the Jimmy Hoffa murder case and locate his missing body, and he
also forced a damaging meteor to harmlessly land near a cook-off;
he received the nickname "Mr. Exclusive" and was rewarded
with his old reporting job - he realized that he was now reporting
on better, late-breaking news stories
- using his special powers, during the first anchor
broadcast of the Eyewitness News at 6 by Evan - his newly-promoted,
obnoxious co-anchor rival, the vengeful Bruce was able to sabotage
and disrupt the show; he managed to modify Evan's voice; in addition,
Bruce pantomimed typing in alternative news-copy into the teleprompter,
causing Evan to say: "In other news: The prime-minister of
Sweden visited Washington today, and my tiny little nipples went
to France," followed by other ridiculous lines: "The
White House reception committee greeted the prime rib roast minister
and I do the cha-cha like a sissy girl. I lika do da cha-cha";
Bruce also perfectly lip-synched Evan's voice with complete and
hilarious gibberish, and made some embarrassing fart noises (from
his own underarm), thought to come from Evan
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Bruce's Sabotage of Evan's First News Broadcast
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- as a result, Evan was fired and Bruce was appointed
as the new anchor; however, as expected, Bruce found that his efforts
to be God backfired, for instance, when those who all offered prayers
were granted their wishes, but this resulted in all those who prayed
to win the lottery having winning numbers, but their prize money
only amounted to $17 dollars apiece; during a conversation with
God atop of Mt. Everest, Bruce admitted that his attempt at using
God's power had destroyed many things and caused chaos, including
the breakup of his relationship with Grace; he attempted to set
things straight after realizing his mistaken use of God's powers,
including making amends with Evan and restoring his job; in a state
of despair and emotional anguish, he knelt in the middle of the
road to pray to ask God to take back his powers - and was hit head-on
by an oncoming truck
Bruce Awakening in a Hospital After Life-Threatening
Accident
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Reconciled with Grace in the Hospital
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- following the accident, Bruce met with God in the
clouds and learned how to pray; he selflessly begged and prayed
that his estranged girlfriend Grace would find someone to make
her happy ("I want her to be happy. No matter what that means.
I want her to find someone to treat her with all the love that
she deserved from me. I want her to meet someone who’ll see
her always as I do now through your eyes")
- suddenly, he was back at the accident scene being
treated by EMTs and then he woke up in a hospital, where the doctor
told him that he was lucky to be alive: "Someone up there
must like you"; he noticed he was receiving a transfusion
of life-saving AB Positive Blood (Grace's blood type), just before
she arrived and reconciled with him
- in the final bookending scene, Bruce was back doing
light-weight fluff reporting at the American Red Cross
"Be the Miracle" Blood Drive, telling his viewers: "It’s
a B-E-A-UTIFUL day"; earlier in the film, he had expressed his
reluctance about donating blood: ("They’re not touching
me with no needle!... It’s blood. Blood is supposed to stay
inside the body. That’s how it’s meant to be"),
but now he announced to the crowd that he was engaged to Grace as
Mrs. Exclusive before they went off to donate blood
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Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) Reporting on Superficial Stories
for WKBW-TV - Buffalo's Biggest Cookie
Bruce Practicing His Signature Sign-Off: "And that's the way the cookie
crumbles"
Thrown Out of the WKBW-TV Offices Onto the Street After Being Fired
Bruce Atop His Own Life's Expanding File Cabinet
Bruce With God (Morgan Freeman) - Testing His Clairvoyant Abilities
Bruce (as God) Parting His Tomato Soup Like the Red Sea
"I've Got the Power"
Bruce's Revenge: Gang Leader Suffering as a Monkey Emerged From His Butt
Bruce Showered and Covered In Prayer Post-Its
Back to Reporting on a Blood Drive in the City with the Kowolskis
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