Is "Evan Almighty" and "Bruce Almighty" blasphemous?

Question

How do these compare to "Oh God!" and the other George Burns movies, "Jesus Christ Superstar", "The Passion of the Christ" etc...

I don't mean genre, I know some of these titles are comedies, dramas, musicals, etc...

Answer 1

I did not find Bruce Almighty to be blasphemous. I found it to have some very good points about religion and God. Following is from teh US Catholic Bishops review of the movie:

And while the movie is not without moments of schmaltziness and sheer silliness, beneath its irreverent facade the film addresses faith issues with an unfeigned sincerity and seriousness. That's rare in an industry which, at best, treats expressions of faith as window dressing. Such topics as prayer, usually anathema, play a pivotal role in the narrative. Regrettably, this otherwise genuinely religious film is tarnished by some language and an implied sex scene which easily could have been eliminated without hampering the flow of the story.

Throughout the film, Shadyac returns to the age-old question of free will, the one boundary Nolan can not overstep or interfere with. This prohibition comes into play when his Zeus-size ego causes Grace to break off their relationship. Nolan commiserates with God, pondering the question that has baffled philosophers and theologians for centuries: "How do you make someone love you without affecting their free will?" Aye, there's the rub.

More than anything else, the film deems laughter a holy act, and regards the soul as somehow hot-wired to the funny bone. In fact, late in the film God reprimands Nolan for pooh-poohing the goofy segments he did on the nightly news. Far from being unimportant, they were infinitely valuable because they made people happy. "You have a divine spark, to bring joy and laughter into the world." Amen to that!

The US Catholic Bishops have reviewed LOTS of movies. The reviews can be found at http://www.usccb.org/movies/index.shtml

Answer 2

I don't think I'm qualified to judge something as blasphemous.
But, I can say they are stupid. [Evan, Bruce, and Oh God] 'JC Superstar' was more of an opera and I thought 'Passion of the Christ' was an attempt at a documentary. That one might be worth seeing, but I haven't seen it yet. The only one I've seen from that list is 'Oh God' and that was stupid even in the 70's.

Answer 3

The works named in your question are undoubtedly blasphemous: The abomination that is "Bruce Almighty" even went out of it's way to portray the power of God as limited.

It really goes to prove that it's the responsibility of a good government to limit the freedom of so-called "arts" if it means protecting the faithful from such ridicule.

Answer 4

I was very uncomfortable watching Bruce Almighty and found it very mocking.

But Evan Almighty was very tastefully done and I don't see how anyone could be offended by it. A couple of the pastors at a Baptist church some of my friends go to have gone to see it as well and recommend it to people.

Answer 5

I do know the Vatican automatically Excommunicated any and all actors up to 1900 and then nobody I've asked knows if the pope still does this action today. Let's assume popes are still unfriendly to actors and theatre in general, then, in that light, yes all movies are blasphemous because the participants are Excommunicated.

Answer 6

well they are different generes for example.

evan almighty and bruce almighty fall under the oscar nomination category of "crap",

while jesus christ superstar falls under "drama",

Oh dog falls under the title of "musical" and

Passion of the christ falls under the category of "snuff film".

Answer 7

i've seen both and i think they both have a strong message that is to be learned
Bruce Almighty----------if you think God is doing a bad job in the world do you honestly think you could do better
Evan Almighty------------Gods power is awesome and he is to be obeyed because he can do anything

Answer 8

I'm not sure. Some of them have good messages, but they seem disrespectful in many ways.

Answer 9

Does it matter? Everything is blasphemous to someone.

People get overly offended over all kinds of religious superstitions.

Answer 10

its just comedy people