Jim Carrey’s Most Iconic Performance Is Being Hidden Away From New Fans

By TeeJay Small | Updated

jim carrey

Older fans of Jim Carrey likely know the lively performer for his leading roles in films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, or Dumb and Dumber. Younger kids may be familiar with the leading man through his more recent blockbuster roles, like Dr. Robotnik in the live-action Sonic The Hedgehog movies. For my money, the best Jim Carrey film by far is 2003’s Bruce Almighty, which is currently unavailable to stream on any major streaming services, in a criminal twist of fate that needs to be rectified.

Bruce Almighty

Bruce Almighty is a wild ride from start to finish, written by Click scribes Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe, in collaboration with Barnyard director Steve Oedekerk. The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, who previously worked with Jim Carrey on projects such as Ace Ventura and Liar Liar.

The cast of Bruce Almighty includes Jennifer Aniston, Philip Baker Hall, Steve Carell, Lisa Ann Walter, Catherine Bell, and Morgan Freeman, in the biggest and most iconic role of his entire decades-long career.

Bruce’s Breakdown

If you’ve ever seen a meme or regurgitated a joke about Morgan Freeman having the voice of god, you’ve got this movie to thank for that idea. Jim Carrey stars in Bruce Almighty as Bruce Nolan, a struggling field reporter with dreams of being promoted up to the role of news anchorman, and covering hard-hitting stories that will make him a TV news star.

While covering a number of trivial local stories, Bruce is informed on the air that the position has been filled by his long-time rival, prompting him to have a meltdown on camera, dropping obscene language and gestures to the live audience of millions of viewers at home.

God Steps In

As the film continues, Jim Carrey’s character is fired, fights with his girlfriend, and generally sees a string of horrible luck impacting his day-to-day life. As a result, he laments his woes to God himself, humorously remarking that God deserves to be fired from his role as the omniscient overseer of the universe, due to his incompetence.

God, as expertly portrayed by Morgan Freeman, doesn’t take this disrespect lying down, and hands Bruce the reigns to his almighty powers for a brief period of time, tasking him with doing a better job.

Carrey Is Perfect

jim carrey

Immediately, Bruce utilizes his god-like abilities for personal gain, bending the universe to his whims in order to get his dream job, take revenge on a gang of local street toughs, and please his girlfriend like never before.

If you’re wondering to yourself “hey, are you sure that this Jim Carrey movie, which contains the F-bomb in the first ten minutes and a scene with a monkey entering a man’s rectum?” You’d be amazed what films like Bruce Almighty could do with a PG-13 rating over 20 years ago.

Needless to say, the film takes a pretty heartfelt turn as Jim Carrey’s Bruce struggles to handle the almighty powers of God, and begins learning the lesson that with great power comes great responsibility.

Throughout the film, Carrey is given the perfect amount of creative license to whip out hilarious impressions, extensive physical comedy, and a few well-placed VFX shots that really give the movie a larger-than-life scale.

Watch It If You Can

Bruce Almighty Jim Carrey

GFR SCORE

If you’re interested in seeing Jim Carrey flex his god-like acting ability, unfortunately, Bruce Almighty is currently not available to stream anywhere. The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, so I see no reason why it shouldn’t be on the Peacock or Amazon Prime streaming libraries for a whole new audience of comedy lovers. Regardless, if you get the chance to rent this film, be sure to pull the trigger, as it’s an all-time classic comedy with a ton of heart, and a positive message.