Evan Almighty is cute, fun, but Wanda Sykes steals the show--fred

* * * (out of 5)


I don't know if she's underrated, but for me Wanda Sykes is one of the funniest women out there. Unlike many comics she is equally adept at working clean or dirty and being just as funny. In Evan Almighty, a family comedy, Sykes steals the show as Congressman Evan Baxter's Washington aide. Baxter is again played by Steve Carrell, the gibberish-speaking anchorman from Jim Carrey's Bruce Almighty. Now elected to the federal government, he barely settles into his new job when God (Morgan Freeman) comes back to offer him a side job. Build an ark for a second flood. To help him, God gives Evan a Ark Building for Dummies book. Sometimes the jokes are that obvious.

Howvere, the movie is filled with some clever sight gags and wordplay, but has to fill out its 90 minute running time with 3 music montages. As for Sykes, when Evan inexplicably grows a beard that he can't shave and hair that he can't cut, Sykes is beside herself. When she finally gets him to almost admit why he needs the beard, he says, "I'm building something." Sykes answers, "Well, I hope it's a barbershop."

The building of the ark is very cool, and the special effects are really good, especially for a comedy. You can see where the $180 million was spent. The animal stunts alone must have taken a lot of time and effort. But the environmental message isn't going to convince anyone who doesn't care about the earth. One nice touch was what ARK can stand for "Acts of Random Kindness." Maybe they made this slogan up, maybe they didn't, it still works well.

As for Steve Carrell, he is one of those moderately funny people who works best bouncing off other funnier people. He gets credit for the success of 40 Year Old Virgin, but that was really an ensemble effort that made that movie so great. Asking Carrell to be the lone funny man will not work and I'm afraid this summer's Get Smart will reveal that in spades. He's not Eddie Murphy or Bill Murray, he's more Gene Wilder.


The Freditor