This weekend marks the release of one of the stranger sequels to ever be produced — Evan Almighty.
What’s so strange about it? It’s a sequel without any of the primary characters of the first (save Morgan Freeman), set in a different location, with the same God but a different directive from said deity.
The real interesting thing about this movie is that it plans to take the success of the first and place it in Steve Carell’s hands. It was a job that was squarely placed on Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty.
In Bruce, Carrey did some of his best comedic work since his days on In Living Color, channeling everything funny about Fletcher Reed from Liar Liar and adding a little more heart.
Can Steve Carell top Jim Carrey? It’s a tall order, but Carell has some pretty nice credentials on his resume as well. After a long stint on The Daily Show — possibly one of the funniest shows ever — Carell has starred in only a few movies, only some being well received.
Perhaps his most well-known work since The Daily Show would have to be his sitcom, The Office. Also to Carell’s credit, he was hilarious as a freakish weatherman in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
Carell has performed along side the greats of modern comedy, giving him some experience that should help him take on this role and differentiate it from Carrey’s performance.
On the other hand, Jim Carrey is Jim Carrey. Although he may not have invented slapstick, he perfected it and started a craze that defined comedy during his heyday.
The mid-90s were Jim Carrey’s playground, and he let us all swing on the swings by drawing us into comedies that were full of laughs.
So can Carell top Carrey? If he’s smart, he won’t try to.
Jim Carrey is a legend and trying to be him will only leave you with failure. Instead, let’s hope Carell brings his own brand of humor to the screen leaving Carrey’s slapstick use of the Almighty’s powers behind him.
Look for my review next week.
Oh, and because my friends make fun of me for using women to bring readers to my blog I should mention that this movie has one thing going for it above all else — Lauren Graham is hot.
My money’s on Carell. Or at least, I like him better. I never fully bought in to the Carrey trend.
Fair to say that Carell is at least slightly higher brow humor. Carrey’s style of humor isn’t really the trend these days either.
Even the goofier comics like Ferrell aren’t quite as zany as Carrey was.
It’s Thursday, and I thought that you would like to know I really really really liked this article (Carell vs. Carrey: Comedy Smackdown). I wasn’t really looking for this (I was searching on ‘Swings’), but I’m glad I found your blog as a result. Keep up the great blogging!! I’ve bookmarked you.