Just Say Noah

An attempt to build a franchise around Jim Carrey's mildly comic mild hit, "Evan Almighty", the nominal sequel to 2003's "Bruce Almighty", finds an ordinary guy given Noah's job. Ditching the Bruce character entirely, this "Almighty" focuses on Steve Carell's scene-stealingly tongue-tied newsman Evan Baxter (endowed with the Lord's powers, Bruce had memorably made Evan trip over his words on-air). Like its predecessor, "Evan" has an intriguing comic premise but collapses under its fear of theological commitment.

Since the Evan Baxter character was never developed in the first film, the writer Steve Oedekerk (who co-wrote the original) starts from scratch. He quickly takes Evan and his family - wife Joan (Lauren Graham, relegated to the worried spouse role) and their three kids - out of the Buffalo newsroom and drops them into Washington DC. Apparently, Evan has found time to run for, and get elected to, Congress. His motto: "Let's Change the World". No sooner does he pray for some heavenly help than it appears in the form of God himself (a typically divine Morgan Freeman). God charges Evan with building the Ark - he even gives him and "Ark Building for Dummies" book (har har) - and as you'd expect, complications set in, particularly when Evan finds himself uncontrollably growing Noah's hair and beard. There's also a preposterous subplot involving Evan's dealings with a crooked Congressman (John Goodman, phoning it in) but the less said about that the better.

If you're going to make a comedy about a man given the responsibility to build an Ark in 21st century Washington DC, you have to be willing to ruffle a few (non-avian) feathers. With a premise like this one, you're bound to offend someone - as some of the best comedies do - but "Evan" plays it far too safe to be a true classic - or even laugh-out-loud funny.

What laughs there are can be credited to Steve Carell who plays Evan just a step smarter than his Michael Scott character from "The Office". As he's proven in the past, Mr. Carell is a fine sport who's able to milk comedy out of every moment on screen - every awkward pause, every sidelong glace and every extended nose-hair trimming sequence (and yes, there is one). Wanda Sykes also shows up to deliver every one-liner (and it's all one-liners) with her trademark sass. But even these talented comedians can't keep "Evan's" one-joke concept afloat.

"Bruce" director Tom Shadyac keeps the pace zippy enough but, ironically, once the Ark-building starts, "Evan" flounders. Surrounded by CG and non-CG animals, with a head full of long, white hair, "Evan" feels more like "The Ten Commandments" by way of "Jumanji". And once we're tired of the animal gags, "Evan" has no where to go. At that point, it's best to let the floodwaters rise.