The Jim Carrey Comedy Rotten Tomatoes Hated But Netflix Revived

The world of cinema has been going through a raging, seemingly endless debate for a decade or so now about what makes a true movie star. And if there's one thing all that discussion has served for, it's highlighting the clear-cut, inarguable movie stars of the generation of Hollywood actors that came just before this one. These giants of the 1990s and early 2000s held the ability to draw crowds and cultural attention in a way that was almost taken for granted in their time. And, out of that group, Jim Carrey is a particularly crucial name.

The Canadian-American comedian and actor became one of the most emblematic film faces of his age bracket, thanks not only to his sheer ability and craftsmanship as both a comedic and dramatic actor, but also to his total uniqueness as a screen persona. From surrealism-tinged mainstream comedies like "The Mask," "Dumb and Dumber," and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to serious arthouse fare like "The Truman Show" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," the number of legendary films bent around the outsized, elastic, highly expressive personality of Carrey in his commercial prime is too great to count. 

Like all movie stars of that stature, Carrey eventually reached the point where his projects could become enormous hits even if slaughtered by reviewers — as was the case of "Bruce Almighty." The film was not critically well-received in its original release year of 2003, but struck and keeps striking a chord with audiences 20 years later, as evidenced by its recent Netflix resurgence.

High-concept comedy is an industry trend that always seems to come back. There's something to be said for a film that can pull viewers in just with a simple, easily-summarizable idea that nonetheless holds enormous, tantalizing potential for laughs and thrills alike. And, in the early 2000s, high-concept comedies were all the rage. 

"Bruce Almighty," directed by Tom Shadyac, is proof positive of that. An original comedy based on no previous IP, "Bruce Almighty" managed to break multiple box office records on its way to a massive worldwide $484.6 million haul. Viewers just couldn't say no to a premise as bulletproof as, "What if an average guy got the chance to be God for a week?" Of course, they could also not ignore Jim Carrey in the role. The actor's typically larger-than-life performance as suddenly omnipotent TV reporter Bruce Nolan became definitional of what studio comedy looked like in those days, and similarly iconic was Morgan Freeman's supporting performance as God. 

Although critics questioned the cinematic chops of "Bruce Almighty" — the movie scored a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and an even weaker 46 on Metacritic — Carrey's commitment to the film's elaborate barrage of divine gags held the whole thing together, and gave it a tinge of timelessness that only the best slapstick can achieve. It's no wonder that the film has now made its way to the U.S. Netflix Top 10.