PG for mild rude humor and some peril
Directed by Tom Shadyac (Bruce Almighty and Liar, Liar)
Starring Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman and Wanda Sykes
This is one of the funniest family-friendly movies…and it has a great message to boot.
We first met Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) in Bruce Almighty as the hilarious anchor man who steals Bruce’s (Jim Carey) job. Now he has moved on to bigger and better things, leaving his job as a TV news anchorman in Buffalo, NY to become the newly elected congressman in Washington D.C. Evan’s campaign promise and slogan was to “Change the World.” Although he had his own plans to accomplish that, God (Morgan Freeman) shows up, and Evan is given the task of building an ark, just like Noah.
O.K. let me start by saying I am a huge fan of Steve Carell and The Office. I think Will Ferrall is the funniest man alive right now, but Steve Carell is a very close second. This movie is vintage Carell and is just plain hilarious.
As far as comedy goes…this film really does have it all and a lot of it. There is plenty of slapstick (i.e. repetitive hammer-to-the thumb gags); great one- liners like, “You look like a Bee Gee. Did you fall down a mine shaft? Were you attacked by a werewolf?”; some animal potty-humor and everything in between.
Then there is the softer side to the movie. Sure we get to see Evan make a total fool of himself, but we also get to see him broken and flawed. We see him struggle with obedience especially when everyone else thinks he is crazy. We learn some very valuable lessons right along side of Evan: lessons about family and priorities, standing firm for you beliefs, and perseverance.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
ABSOLUTELY! The film is SOOOOOooooo clean by today's standards. Some people might object to a quick comment from a young boy about an animal's penis… probably the only joke that anyone would have a problem with. But this film is incredibly clean, truly PG (as apposed to the pluthera of PG-13 garbage out today). Evan Almighty is great family movie with some very poignant teachable moments. As a family, we laughed all the way through it, and I really enjoyed talking about the life lessons on the ride home.
I'm not sure why Dr. Dobson said he was unable to endorse the movie, (and believe me I’m no Dr. Dobson) but here’s my take: this film, unlike the Biblical event, is FICTIONAL. It is very entertaining and thousands of our unchurched friends are seeing it. So go see it and then use it to ask questions like: What would you pray for if you knew God would answer your prayer?, What did you think of the conversation about prayer between God and Joan?, How would you change the world?, Do you think God knows better what we need than we do?, etc.
(Or check out the discussion guide we've provided for this film on this page.)
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
