A by-the-numbers divine comedy about a would-be TV anchorman, anchored instead to fluff pieces in the field, who curses God (Morgan Freeman) and is cursed in return with all of His powers on a temporary basis: see if you can do better. (Only two rules: "You can't tell anybody you're God, and you can't mess with free will.") Someone had tried earlier to tell him what he eventually will learn, "There's nothing wrong with making people laugh," a line that sounds a lot like a motto. All the same, there is something not entirely right about trying like the devil and not making people laugh. And no one tries harder with less to show for it than Jim Carrey, who for the moment has stopped chasing the Oscar (The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, The Majestic) and has gone back to being Silly Putty. Director Tom Shadyac, who worked with the actor in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Liar Liar, has not altogether abandoned his own tendencies toward Patch Adams and Dragonfly. A clip from Capra's It's a Wonderful Life sets the co-ordinates, and warns the viewer to watch out for low-flying schmaltz. One dependable chuckle, even on repetition, is the Latina newscaster (Catherine Bell) who puts maximum ethnic pride into the enunciation of the rolled "r" and pure-toned vowels of her name, "Susan Ortega." With Jennifer Aniston. (2003) — Duncan Shepherd