Bruce Almighty sees Carrey back to his best

IN Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey plays television reporter Bruce Nolan.

He longs to hit the big time and is fed up with reporting on piddling little hometown fillers, like an attempt to make the biggest chocolate chip cookie.

He’s so wrapped up in his own life he completely ignores his long-suffering girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston).

When a series of bad luck befalls our preoccupied hero he blames everything on God and is more than a little surprised when God (Morgan Freeman) responds through a broken pager.

He summons Bruce to a deserted warehouse and hands over his godly powers to see if Bruce can do any better.

This gives Carrey the licence he needs to go on one of his patented rampages that include blowing up girls’ skirts, teaching his dog to use the toilet and having a monkey crawl out of a guy’s ass.

When all the fun and games are over Bruce realises there is a serious job to be done and he starts to find the going tough as he tries to fill the Almighty’s shoes.

Bruce Almighty is a welcome return to what Carrey does best.

Whatever about his merits as a serious actor, Carrey knows how to make people laugh and he again achieves that difficult task here.

Comedy 12 ***