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Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a likable schlub nearing his 40th birthday but with no prospects in sight for a happy future. He's married to the beautiful Grace Connelly (Jennifer Aniston), but his career as a TV newscaster is going nowhere; he's stuck doing "quirky" coverage of such hot stories as the world's biggest cookie and just got one-upped for an anchorman position by the conniving Evan Baxter (Steven Carell). But then something magical happens - Bruce is paid a visit by God (Morgan Freeman) and given some incredible powers. But God has his own plan in mind - will Bruce ever learn to be truly grateful for what he has been given instead of what he doesn't have?

Many criticized Carrey for retreating to the safe and familiar with Bruce Almighty, but it is easy to see why the screen's reigning comedian would be attracted to such a seemingly banal tale. The film's entire theme hinges on Bruce's realization that "there is nothing wrong with being funny." Here's a character desperately trying to validate his place in the world, failing to realize that he's already been given one of the greatest gifts mankind can receive, that of a big heart and lots of laughter. It is a cute, endearing story, and Carrey manages some genuine pathos, his work rivaling anything he did in more "serious" fare such as The Truman Show. They say comedy at its core is about anger, and Carrey proves it here - his rage in the dramatic scenes is downright scary. Bruce Almighty may be a slight concept and an even slighter script, but Carrey turns it into something special.

Some minor controversy greeted Bruce Almighty when it premiered last summer, with an outspoken few labeling it as blasphemous. But it is hard to imagine anyone being truly offended by such an innocuous film. Not since Oh, God! has a film been this pro-faith and non-denominational. If anything, Bruce Almighty is a modern remake of It's a Wonderful Life, and religious groups should be championing this film, not picketing it. This is as sure-fire a DVD blockbuster as any other this season. Bruce Almighty is the perfect Saturday night timewaster.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Presented here in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (a full screen version is also available, Bruce Almighty as an interesting visual look. In an attempt to make the film look like it is bathed in a godly light, the high end appears to have been tweaked. Contrast is not too blown-out but the upper registers do appear quite bright - Bruce Almighty looks white-washed. It is a sometimes odd look, but effective. Colors are still nicely saturated and blacks rock solid. However, the transfer does have a slight digital appearance - I noticed a bit of edge enhancement and some slight noise. Detail is good but not great, although shadow delineation does not suffer greatly. And compression artifacts are not a problem. A pretty good presentation, if not quite the Holy Grail.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Universal has bestowed Bruce Almighty with heavenly Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround tracks. Okay, not truly heavenly, but both are pretty fine for comedy soundtracks. THe sound design here is pretty average and quite front heavy - decent dialogue reproduction, some nice deployment of the cheery score across the soundstage and a few noticeable discrete effects. The DTS track doesn't really offer a huge improvement - bass is about the same, imaging perhaps a tad more transparent and frequency response just as clear. Neither track is any great shakes, but certainly pleasant enough.

Also included are French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby dubs, English captions encoded as subtitles and French and Spanish subtitles. There is no true Closed Captioning.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Given Bruce Almighty's $200 million-plus take at the summer box office, it is a bit surprising there aren't more and better extras here. And where are Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Aniston? Given what looked like a really fun shoot, the lack of the actor's involvement and an almost complete absence of behind-the-scenes footage makes this one a missed opportunity.

First up is a screen-specific audio commentary with director Tom Shadyac. It kinda feels unnecessary - Shadyac is very serious about "technique" and the film's "visual style," but let's face it, this is Carrey's show. It is no surprise that the rubber-faced comedian improvised many of his scenes, and there was far more left on the cutting room floor than could have made it in the feature film. Shadyac is a personable buy, but Bruce Almighty just isn't really the kind of film that cries out for a commentary.

More fun is The Process of Jim featurette, which runs nearly 6 minutes and features Shadyac introducing three different outtake sequences with Carrey performing his usual brand of slapstick mayhem. Slight, but funny. The 7 minutes of Outtakes are also amusing but not hysterical; the -minute montage of no less than 14 deleted scenes is a much better example of Carrey's quick wit and dexterity. All are presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (and most from fair-quality video dubs), feature optional commentary from Shadyac and the entire collection runs 29 minutes. Last but not least is a Chase Mastercard commercial, which doesn't seem to have much to do with anything.

Rounding out the set are some cast and crew filmographies and the film's theatrical trailer in non-anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 5.1.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

Nothing unusual here, either. Just the usual custom interface with basic DVD controls and weblinks to various Universal destinations and the official Bruce Almighty website.

Parting Thoughts