The early reviews are in – how does Evan Almighty stack up against its Jim Carrey counterpart? Morgan Freeman is back as God, and Steve Carell (who is hilarious) will play…well, he’s sort of playing Noah. And this time, it’s all about the ark. The huge-budget comedy takes an age-old story and shoves it, forcibly, right into everyone’s faces. It’s already a stale story – everybody totally already knows everything about the ark.

Carell will reprise the newscaster role he had in Bruce Almighty, only this time he’ll be the leading man. This time, he’s no longer an anchor but a politician (sure…that’s a totally natural transition). Lauren Graham will play Evan’s wife, not a Gilmore Girl, who packs up with her husband and three sons to go to Washington, D.C. for the new job. John Goodman plays Evan’s congressional ally. Then, before the plot development has gone cold, God shows up and tells Evan not-so-subtly to build an ark.

Pairs of animals begin to follow Evan, while Evan himself begins to rapidly grow hair and takes to wearing flowing robes. This movie spends a great chunk of its time teetering between making fundamentalists happy with spiritual overtones (and highly non-offensive imagery) and pleasing left-wingers with a low-key environmentalist message. Carell gets comedic support in the form of Jonah Hill, John Michael Higgins, and Wanda Sykes (who play congressional aides), but even these funny personalities aren’t enough to keep reviewers entertained the whole way through. The climax is full of special effects, which pepper the entire flick, but even this isn’t enough to entertain. For ninety-five minutes, the film explores an age-old parable in a modern political setting, with a PG rating that most family members can enjoy. Quick! Somebody find out if this film was funded by the Republican National Party.