How great thou ark

I seem to remember being told when Luther Seminary began this blog that movie reviews were fair game. I've seen many a good film in the past year but never one so blog-worthy as "Evan Almighty."

Tracy and I went to see it yesterday in Eagle River, Wis., on a visit to her parents' cabin. We picked "Evan" over a wealth of other sequels, partly because, having seen "Bruce Almighty," we were actually caught up on its cinematic chronology (whereas we hadn't seen the second installments of the "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Ocean's Eleven" and "Shrek" franchises and weren't about to jump into the third). Also, we were really looking forward to seeing this movie, partly because it involves God and partly because it stars Steve Carell.

As a disclaimer, I should say that I'm glad I saw the movie before learning that it was absolutely panned by critics. I think these reviews are well founded, largely because "Evan Almighty" is apparently the most expensive comedy ever made (around $175 million) and yet, I'll agree, is hardly an almighty laugh fest. The jokes are often flimsy, there are many goofy aspects that serve no purpose, and it just doesn't have the luster of better-developed comedies. But it's really not as a comedy that I (and Tracy, too) liked the movie.

Carell takes the spotlight in this film, since Jim Carrey, who in "Bruce Almighty" took God's powers for a comical spin, opted out. Carell, who has since "Bruce" has risen from second-banana roles (also, notably, in "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy") to leading-man status ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and NBC's "The Office"), reprises his role as Evan Baxter, who at the start of the movie is making the jump from TV news anchor in Buffalo, N.Y., to newly elected U.S. representative.

Evan is just getting used to the life of a Congressman, and he, his wife, Joan (wordplay, I'm sure, with Joan of Arc/Ark), and their three sons are getting settled near Washington, D.C., when God shows up and commands Evan to build an ark in anticipation of an unexplained flood. Evan eventually accepts this calling, albeit reluctantly, after much coaxing by the Almighty and the unrelenting pursuit of various animals that will populate the ark. Accepting this mysterious call leads Evan to butt heads with a coalition of senior Congressmen who are pushing a bill to develop fringe areas of U.S. National Parks. Meanwhile, his fellow officials, the media and his family all question his sanity.

Lack of Oscar-caliber wit aside, the absurdity of the premise flows nicely into where I'd say the movie succeeds best — as a story about the relationship between God and a reluctant but faithful follower of the 21st century. I doubt that many of the film's naysayers have been through the process of discerning whether to enter the ministry. And I'm willing to bet that, like me, other people who have regularly faced the frustrating questions of what God is calling them to do and why, absurd as it all may seem, will better appreciate this movie.

Carell, as in the more polished and critically acclaimed comedy "Little Miss Sunshine," shines in this more serious dimension. His portrayal of Evan's understandable skepticism struck a chord for me. Morgan Freeman thankfully reprises his role as God, and, I have to say, there is perhaps no better actor on earth to play the Man Upstairs. The overall portrayal of God is one that is, in my opinion (and I'm sure someone can find reasons to argue with me), as theologically reasonable as one could hope for in a Hollywood comedy. Albeit sidestepping how the biblical story of the flood involved the death of most of humankind, God here encourages Evan to do his will, mysterious as it is, while only offering the explanation that God loves him. My two favorite moments in the movie involve this assertion of divine love — one in which Evan mocks it in frustration and another in which he proclaims it: Responding to a reporter's question of why God would choose him, Evan says (nicely in line with the Lutheran doctrine of election), "He chose all of us."

"Evan Almighty," while certainly not the summer's best film, is easily one of my favorite movies to surface since I started at Luther Seminary. I may be biased by my status as both an optimistic Christian and fan of Steve Carell. I may have simply fallen prey to a Hollywood scheme to attract a faith-based audience. I may be easily amused by scenes involving monkeys. But in a rare movie that left me above all with a genuine feeling that I'm doing the right thing by answering God's call, crazy as it may seem, Evan and his ark more than stay afloat in my book.