Evan Almighty



The sequel to Bruce Almighty, spoofing the biblical story of The Flood and Noah's ark. Evan Baxter (Bruce's rival from the first film) becomes a congressman and moves to Washington D.C. where God forces him to become the next Noah, presumably to save people (and animals) from the next Flood. This causes people, even his family, to think he's going crazy.


 * Ark Words: "One act of random kindness at a time."
 * Belated Backstory: Evan Baxter goes from a smug, vapid antagonist to a nice, well-meaning father and husband whose only real flaw is that he is a Workaholic. Considering he doesn't even have the same job he had the first film he comes across more as a a brand new character that coincidentally has the same name and actor as the original Evan.
 * Steve Carell admitted in an interview around the time of the movie's release, that Evan Almighty should just be looked upon as its own stand alone movie, and not as a sequel to Bruce Almighty, and that all it really is, it's a retelling of Noah's Ark set in the present day.
 * Continuity Nod: Susan Ortega (Catherine Bell), the sexy co-anchor from the first film turns up briefly in the second (besides God and Evan she is the only returning character).
 * Dolled-Up Installment: Was not originally written as a sequel to Bruce Almighty. That would explain why the character Evan Baxter has a different personality, and really isn't the Jerkass he was in the first film, thought Evan did go through character development at the end.
 * Fridge Horror / No Endor Holocaust: Even if we assume that no one got killed during the initial flood, the huge amount property damage, resulting mould and the fact that sources of clean water would be compromised after such disaster make the fact that Evan became marginally better human being not such a great accomplishment as the movie wants us to think. This Cracked article puts it the best: http://www.cracked.com/article/165_6-movie-heroes-who-sucked-at-their-jobs_p2/
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Production on the flood scene became so big that the film turned out to become the most expensive comedy ever produced, all in the name of a five-minute climactic scene that most critics dismissed as not being that convincing or impressive at all. The budget basically ensured the movie was not going to turn a profit at all, moreso once the critical beatdown and middling box office came in.
 * Incredibly Inconvenient Deity: Evan grows a beard all of a sudden, is forced to build an ark, and, well, other VERY annoying stuff.
 * No Party Given: Evan drives a Hummer and watches MSNBC.
 * To non-US tropers that's a stereotypically Republican car and a network whose opinion shows tend to be Democratic-leaning.
 * Prophecy Twist: Evan is expecting a flood due to rain like in the story. In reality,
 * Punny Name: When God poses as a human, he claims to be "Al Mighty". There's also a waitress named "Eve Adams".
 * Running Gag: Bird poop. Lots and lots of bird poop.
 * Also the Dance.
 * Sassy Black Woman: Rita
 * Spin-Off
 * Stealth Pun: Evan's wife is named Joan. He's building an arc ark. Joan of Arc, anyone?
 * Sudden Musical Ending: The cast starts singing and dancing to "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" during the credits.
 * Villain Protagonist: Averted even though Evan Baxter had almost no redeeming qualities in Bruce Almighty.