WHO'S the last person you'd want to have God-like powers? Saddam Hussein? Roy Keane? Peter Stringfellow?

Jim Carrey must come pretty close. But that's exactly what happens to him or at least the character he plays in Bruce Almighty.

As TV reporter Bruce Nolan, Carrey is a man unhappy with his lot from getting the worst stories to cover for his TV station to clearing up after his weak-bladdered dog and lets anyone in hearing distance know about it, including God.

God himself (Freeman) is getting a little fed up with Bruce's constant moaning and so summons him for an audience in a building called Omni Presents Inc (ho, ho).

There, after a bit of a deity to man chat, God decides to let Bruce have a go at being the Almighty and see how he likes it.

Bruce likes it very much, thank you, having himself a great time until he realises being God is actually very hard work.

Bruce Almighty is very much a one-joke movie, and that joke wears thin quickly.

The high-concept premise isn't a bad one and the screenwriters could have come up with something quite clever and whimsical. But no, they've gone for broad comedy and this is a film that may have looked good on paper, but ends up being nowhere near as funny as it thinks it is.

OK, some of the humour may bring a smile to the face, and the scene in which Bruce reduces a TV news anchorman to a gibbering wreck is laugh out loud stuff. But imagination is definitely lacking, with the God-like Bruce using his powers to make his dog pee in the toilet, or to increase the size of his girlfriend's boobs.

After a decent stab at some fairly straight acting (including the sublime The Truman Show), Carrey is back in manic mode, with the actor never wasting an opportunity to go over the top. But running around a lot and shouting in silly voices doesn't always make great comedy and when the humour is forced and contrived as it is in this film, Carrey's antics soon become tiresome.

Jennifer Aniston, as Bruce's girlfriend, is wasted. A good comic actress, her role is woefully underwritten.

Morgan Freeman, though, makes a very convincing God, but sadly we don't see nearly enough of him.

Expect a bolt of lightning to strike a cinema near you soon.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Stephen Webb