Tom Shadyac

Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a reporter who covers fluff stories for TV news in Buffalo, New York. The story opens with Bruce in a bakery, spidery hairnet yanked over his forehead, diligently reporting on the largest cookie ever baked in Buffalo. Racing back to the station, Bruce gets caught in traffic and vents his frustration about the fact that his life is in a go-nowhere rut. Arriving late to an important meeting, fellow staffers--including nemesis, Evan Baxter (Steve Carrell) needle Bruce mercilessly about his clownish coverage at the bakery. Bruce has a lively, but dark, sense of humor. After the meeting, Bruce begs his boss, Jack Baylor (Philip Baker Hall), to consider him for the open anchor position. Bruce lives with his live-in girlfriend, Grace Connelly (Jennifer Aniston). The next day Bruce is sent to cover a story at Niagara Falls & finds that Evans got the open anchor position. He has a serious meltdown in front of the camera & gets fired. Increasingly furious, Bruce goes for a drive, shaking the prayer beads and cursing heaven. It's raining hard as he gets out of the car, lost in the turmoil of his feelings, continuing to berate God, crossing the highway, without regard for oncoming traffic, to toss the prayer beads as far out into the lake as he can. Back at the apartment next morning, Bruce's beeper starts to go off repeatedly with a high-pitched shriek. He doesn't recognize the number and finally gets so annoyed that he tosses the beeper out into the street, where it gets run over by a car. But it's still keeps beeping. Aggravated beyond words, and unable to stop the beeper from going off, Bruce calls the number and listens to a tape recording of someone who apparently knows everything that's going on in his life. Intrigued, he drives to the address he got over the phone. He enters a warehouse to find that the ground floor is empty except for an African American janitor (Morgan Freeman) mopping the floor. Bruce asks for directions to room seven on the seventh floor, finding much to his annoyance that the elevator doesn't work. As he heads for the stairs, the janitor asks him to help mop the floor, and Bruce retorts that he would be happy to help in seven days at seven o'clock. Arriving on the seventh floor, Bruce finds himself in a huge, empty room that's painted stark white. As he calls out for help, the janitor climbs down a ladder through a hole in the ceiling connected to a brightly lighted room above. Bruce thinks the janitor must have taken the elevator to get there ahead of him, and watches while he strips off his coveralls and sits down behind a white desk impeccably dressed in a white suit and tie, disclosing--much to Bruce's amusement--that he is, in fact, God. God proceeds to prove his powers by showing Bruce a file cabinet that contains everything that ever happened in his life. The drawer is so long that it pushes Bruce all the way across the room, then slams shut again dragging Bruce along behind. God has a plan for Bruce. Since Bruce thinks God isn't doing a very good job, he will give Bruce all his powers and see if Bruce can do any better. God retreats to his ladder, clapping for the lights to go back on so he can climb back up. Outside in the street, Bruce finds that he can walk across the puddle that tripped him up earlier. His car won't start until he bangs his hands on the steering wheel and yells, "Start!" As he drives, he realizes that all his fantasies--such as for example being Clint Eastwood---easily come true. Bruce stops at a diner to order coffee and the waitress convinces him to add an order of tomato soup. He agrees, then decides to try out parting the Red Sea with his bowl tomato soup. The soup parts in two, Bruce's hair flying back, scaring another customer and the waitress out of their wits. Now Bruce is convinced he is God. First and foremost, he evens the score with some criminal types who harassed him in the street right after he got fired. Next, he conjures up a new car and a new outfit for himself. A sexy woman walks past, and he makes her dress fly up so he can see her underwear. Back at the apartment, Bruce comes in with a bouquet of strange flowers--a cross between tulips and daisies--for Grace. He apologizes and starts making love to her, pulling the moon down closer while waiting for her to get ready. Bruce uses all his powers to make their lovemaking as sensational as possible. The next morning, Grace discovers that her breasts have grown larger. Bruce's plan includes finding the long missing body of Jimmy Hoffa. When he reports back to the station everyone applauds and Bruce is hired back to his old job of reporting on fluff stories that all somehow turn out to be late breaking news. On Evan's first night as anchor, Bruce uses his special powers to endow him with a humiliating stutter. Bruce becomes increasingly enchanted with his new powers and ability to do anything he wants to make his life better. He tries to be good to Grace who thinks that he's on the verge of a marriage proposal. They go out for dinner at the restaurant where they first met, and he gets down on his knees in a romantic way, not for a marriage proposal, but to brag that he finally got anchor! Grace is confused and hurt. Bruce starts hearing voices in the background. God appears and informs Bruce that he's hearing the sound of people praying. Bruce uses a computer program that downloads everybody's prayers like email. He tries to go through all the prayers one at a time but finds it an impossible task. Giving up, he hits a key and yells, "Yes to all!" Unfortunately, this means that everybody who was praying to win the lottery wins all at once, so each winner only gets $17, and chaos ensues. Bruce's self-centered and incompetent attempts at playing God are beginning to wreak havoc all over the globe. Bruce roams the city in despair, and suddenly finds himself up on top of Mt. Everest with God, thinking that he might be in heaven. They talk and God shows Bruce that he has only been using his power in selfish ways and this is destroying everything, including Bruce's relationship with Grace. If Bruce wants a miracle, he's going to have to "be the miracle," giving voice to main theme of the film. The network holds a party to celebrate Bruce's promotion to anchor. By now, Grace is completely alienated and refuses to attend. Using his powers, Bruce finds a way to persuade her, but she arrives to find Bruce not quite resisting a sexy co-worker who's trying to seduce him. This is the last straw for Grace, and she breaks off the relationship. Bruce arrives back at his lonely apartment, finally realizing that he's going to have to start using his special powers to help people in need. He can't use special powers to housebreak his dog, he has to use intelligence, patience, and ingenuity. He still tries to use his special powers to try to get Grace back, but it doesn't work since he's breaking one of the rules God gave him, that he can't use his powers to "mess with free will." When he complains about his, God replies, "Welcome to my world." Bruce races back to the warehouse where he first met God and finds him mopping the floor. Coincidentally, it's seven o'clock on the seventh day since they first met, so God hands Bruce a mop and says, "Right on time." They mop the floor together and Bruce finally understands what he has to do to fix the mess he has made. Bruce makes amends to Evan, ensures that he is reassigned to anchor, and goes back to covering human interest fluff stories. He even finishes the photo album that Grace started to commemorate the highlights of their relationship. When Grace's sister (Lisa Ann Walter) comes to pick up Grace's stuff, and sees that Bruce has finished the album, she takes pity on him and tells him that Grace prays for him all the time. Bruce races to his computer and downloads Grace's prayers. A new one comes in and he realizes she's praying for him right then. He watches her cry and, seeing her desperate unhappiness, feels utterly forlorn and helpless. Wandering around the city in a state of emotional anguish, much like the night he got fired, he kneels in the middle of the road to pray and is smacked head on by an oncoming truck. Bruce suddenly finds himself up in the clouds face-to-face with God in heaven. They have a conversation during which God teaches Bruce how to pray. When Bruce gets the hang of it, God presses his fingers against Bruce's chest and there's a huge crashing buzz that Bruce finds very painful. Next, Bruce awakens to glaring lights in the middle of the road with an EMT Defibrillating him. Next, we find Bruce in a hospital bed looking pretty bashed up. Grace comes and climbs in the bed, full of compassion and forgiveness. After his discharge, still in a cast, he returns to the bakery where we found him at the beginning of the film. The bakers display a huge cookie in the shape of a hypodermic needle to promote the Red Cross blood drive and a huge crowd has gathered to donate. Bruce announces that he and Grace are engaged.

The true story of the heroic Hunter "Patch" Adams who's determined to become a medical doctor because of his desire to help other people. He ventures where no doctor ever ventured before utilizing humor and pathos. Patch Adams is determined to become a medical doctor because he enjoys helping people. Unfortunately, the medical and scientific community does not appreciate his methods of healing the sick, while the actual patients, medical professors, and hospital nurses all appreciate the work *he* can do, because they are unable to do it.

Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) is a particularly career-focused lawyer and divorced father. He has a habit of giving precedence to his job, breaking promises to be with his young son Max (Justin Cooper), and then lying to both Max and his ex-wife Audrey (Maura Tierney) about the real reason he missed the get-together. Due to this Max believes that Fletcher is a liar. Audrey is dating hospital administrator Jerry, who is moving to Boston is a few weeks for his new job. Jerry proposes to Audrey and wants her and Max to move with him. Audrey refuses as she knows that Max is really connected to Fletcher. On Max's Day with him, Fletcher takes Max to his office, and Max sees firsthand how Fletcher lies to everybody to their face. He even agrees to take a on a new client, recommended by senior partner Miranda, where he knows that he would have to lie to win. Fletcher is aiming to be partner in the firm and is desperate to keep everybody happy. Due to the new case, Fletcher reneges on taking Max out for a wrestling match that he had promised him. Fletcher has to work really late into the night, preparing case notes, and has no time for Max. It was Greta who bought the present for Max's upcoming birthday, which Fletcher hands over Max at midnight of Max's Birthday. The next day Fletcher meets his new client Samantha Cole in Miranda's office and convinces her that she is the victim, even though she cheated on her husband with 7 different men. Miranda is impressed with Fletcher and promises to make him partner if he wins the case, and then proceeds to have sex with him in her office. Fletcher lets Max down once too often, missing his birthday party, and has to deal with the consequences of a wish Max makes while blowing out the candles on his cake. Max wishes, "I wish that for just one day, Dad can't tell a lie." Immediately, that wish actually and magically comes true. Fletcher soon has several embarrassing instances where he blurts out exactly what he is thinking, like a Tourette's Syndrome twitch, and figures out that he is unable to lie or even withhold a true answer. Some of these instances include: Immediately after Max makes his wish; Fletcher has just had sex with his law office colleague Miranda (Amanda Donohoe) and when she asks, "was it good for you?" "I've had better," he responds. The next morning, when an attractive girl says everyone is so nice to her, he says "Well, that's because you have big jugs! I mean... your breasts are huge! I mean... I want to squeeze them'!" Also, when he walks out of the elevator at his office and everyone is plugging their nose, he admits "It was me!". When an obese man asks, "What's up," he says, "Your cholesterol! Dead man walking'!" He also tells a co-worker he doesn't know his name because he's not important enough. When he tries to explain his situation to his secretary Greta (Anne Haney), she doesn't believe him, so he sets himself up good. He tells her to ask him something she thinks he would normally lie about. She asks him about a raise she wanted a couple months ago. Fletcher had told her if he gave her a raise it would make the other secretaries jealous. She asks if that was true or if he just didn't want to "pony up the dough". His secretary immediately quits and threatens to sue him. Fletcher's newest client is Samantha Cole (Jennifer Tilly), a gold digger who wants a net sum from her soon-to-be ex-husband, Richard Cole (Eric Pierpoint). The period of Max's wish is also when Fletcher has to defend Samantha in court. Fletcher asks for a continuance but is denied as he has no good reason. Fletcher learns that Samantha already has an offer to settle for $2.4 Million from her husband Richard, which she has refused. The judge keeps the hearing at 1:30 PM the same day. Due to this, Fletcher cannot go to school to pick, like he had promised Audrey and tells her so. Audrey is angry with Fletcher and tells him that she is moving to Boston with Jerry (Cary Elwes). Fletcher rushes home to talk to Audrey, but he is caught speeding. He gets his car impounded when he confesses all of his traffic infractions and unpaid tickets to a policeman. Fletcher reaches home and tries to make Audrey stay in town so he can be close to Max. Fletcher gets Audrey's help to get his car released and Audrey has to pay $1654.11 for the same. Fletcher promises to come by and play ball with Max after his court hearing. It is here that Fletcher learns about Max's birthday wish and now realizes that he cannot tell a lie for 24 hours which will mean that the magical ability (or curse) will expire on the 24th hour when Max made the wish at his birthday party; at 8:15 pm. Fletcher goes to Max's school and wants him to take back his wish. Max says that he doesn't want Fletcher to lie as his lies make Max feel bad. At the court hearing, the main witness, Kenneth Falk (Chip Mayer), with whom Samantha has been cheating on Richard, is eager to lie in court to win, but Fletcher cannot even ask him a question, when he knows that the answer will be a lie. Fletcher tries desperately to delay the case, even beating himself up in the bathroom, but is unable to lie his way into a continuance. Knowing that he cannot deny the proof of Samantha's adultery, he successfully disputes the validity of her prenuptial agreement after overhearing her reveal her actual age, discovering that she signed it as a minor without parental consent (Samantha was 17 at the time of her wedding). This entitles Samantha to 50% of Richard's marital assets, allowing Fletcher to win the case truthfully. However, Samantha also insists on contesting custody of their children for an extra $10,000 in monthly child support payments. A disheartened Fletcher, realizing that he corrupted Samantha with his lies, watches as she pulls her crying children out of Richard's arms. Horrified, Fletcher demands that the decision be reversed, but the judge holds him in contempt. When telephoning Audrey to bail him out, she refuses and decides to leave with Jerry as this was yet another broken promise from Flecther to Max. Greta learns of this and, having realized that Fletcher turned over a new leaf, pays his bail. Recognizing Max as his highest priority, Fletcher rushes to the airport, but Audrey and Max's plane has already left the gate. In desperation, he hijacks a mobile stairway to pursue the plane onto the runway. After throwing one of his shoes at the plane's windshield, he is able to get the plane to stop, but is injured after he crashes the mobile stairway and gets thrown off. On a stretcher, Fletcher vows to Max that he will spend more time with him. He says that despite the fact he is free to lie now that the 24 hours have elapsed, it feels better to be honest. Max believes him, and Audrey, encouraged by Jerry, decides to remain in California. One year later, Fletcher and Audrey are celebrating Max's birthday. Max makes a birthday wish, only to find that Fletcher and Audrey are kissing when the lights come back on. Fletcher asks Max if he wished for them to get back together, but Max says he only wished for roller-blades. The family returns to normal as Fletcher chases Audrey and Max around the house with "the Claw", a game that Fletcher often plays with Max.

Lance Perkins (Eddie Murphy) is hosting an exercise program on TV for overweight people. At the Wellman College, thousands of hamsters are overrunning the entire campus, causing general chaos. This is due to the obese, yet loving and kind-heart, Professor Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy) accidentally releasing them by grazing the switch that opens the hamster's cages. The problem having been contained, Sherman is given an update by his assistant, Jason (John Ales), about their latest project an experimental formula that reconstructs the DNA of an obese person to make weight-loss easy. It seems that their fattest hamster, Shelley, has lost 3 ounces, proving that the serum works. Jason suggests increasing the amount Shelley is fed, but the ever-kindly Sherman argues against it, saying it could be dangerous. He then has an unpleasant meeting with Dean Richmond (Larry Miller). The Dean tells him that the incident with the hamsters has cost the science department most of its funding. Harlan Hartley (James Coburn) is the school's last remaining wealthy alumnus and is planning to award a $10 million grant to the college. After class, Sherman meets and instantly falls in love with Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett), a chemistry graduate student who is a big fan of his work. Sherman had dinner with his obese, impolite family including father Cletus, mother Anna Pearl Jensen-Klump, Anna's mother Ida Mae Jensen and Sherman's older brother Ernie (all of whom are also portrayed by Murphy). After noticing that he's taking very small amounts of food from the table, Sherman reveals that he's trying to watch his weight and avoid the calories. His father, Cletus, scoffs him, believing that there's nothing wrong with being fat and that while Sherman can do whatever he can, he'll never get rid of his fat. After his mother, Anna, brings up Colon Cleansing she saw about on T.V., Cletus starts his habit of randomly passing gas, much to the humor of Ernie Sr. and Jr., but to the disgust of Sherman, Grandma, and Anna. Sherman is hurt by the comments Cletus makes, but Anna, tells him that he is "beautiful inside and out," saying that he can do anything if he just believes in himself. This prompts Sherman to attempt to ask Carla out on a date, which she accepts, much to his surprise. While watching Lance Perkins on TV giving one his speeches of motivation, Sherman falls asleep and dreams he is making out with Carla on a beach, but she gets buried in the sand by his weight. Sherman is motivated, full of energy, and is determined to lose some weight. A Rocky-style montage ensues, showing Sherman trying various methods to get fit before the big date. At the date, it begins well with Carla showing admiration for Sherman's work, but Sherman falls victim to the club's wicked comic Reggie Warrington (Dave Chappelle), who attacks him with cruel jokes about his obesity. Back at Carla's home with tears in his eyes, a deeply hurt and humiliated Sherman says goodbye to his date. Carla insults Reggie for what he did to him and tells Sherman that he is brilliant. Sherman tells her to have a pleasant evening and shakes her hand. At home, completely depressed, he has a nightmare in which he becomes a giant with Reggie being present insulting him again, his mother offering him fried chicken, and his father supporting his fat weight. He lays waste to the city with just a single fart, which is then accidentally lit on fire. When he awakens, he yields to the temptation to try the serum on himself. It works, as he loses 250 pounds in seconds. Overwhelmed he goes out and buys many normal size clothing (mainly spandex) as a celebration. He initially celebrates the weight loss but later finds the effects of the serum are only temporary. Dubbing himself Buddy Love (Eddie Murphy), he invites Carla out on a date at the same club again while the serum begins to wear off. Carla later tells Sherman about Buddy and Sherman encourages her to go out with him. Reggie is present again, and Buddy takes revenge and heckles him mercilessly largely by targeting Reggie's "mama" with fat jokes similar to the ones Reggie pelted him with. During this Buddy develops a personality of his own as the high testosterone levels causes him to be overly assertive and confident. Finally angered, Reggie tries challenging Buddy to a Karate match, but he is once again overpowered as he performs Minnie Riperton's 1975 hit Lovin' You on the piano for Carla, and forces Reggie to perform her signature high-pitched squeal. Buddy then proceeds to stuff Reggie into the piano. Sherman's "Buddy" persona starts to develop an independent personality due to the heightened testosterone levels of the transformation, gradually changing from his regular good-nature self to perverted, arrogant and cruel. This transformation is seen by Sherman's lab assistant, Jason. He gives a waiter a credit card to pay for the meal. Buddy and Carla then share a kiss. Immediately after, the serum begins to wear off and Buddy makes a quick exit, attributing it to an allergic reaction to Carla's lipstick (the 'bulking up' beginning with his lower lip, and his midsection begins to swell up). Jason happens to be at the bar and notes that the card Buddy is using belongs to Sherman. He follows Buddy into the sports car to confront him, only to learn Sherman's secret when he discovers him in mid-transformation, culminating in Sherman's having to be cut out of the car when he becomes too big to use the door. The next morning, Sherman is very late for a class and his students have all left. The Dean Richmond ((Larry Miller), however, is there and he confronts Sherman about the sports car, which Buddy bought on Sherman's faculty account. The Dean threatens to strangle Sherman and asks him to meet Hartley (James Coburn) at a hotel restaurant called The Ritz to describe the weight-loss serum. Later, in the lab, Jason tells Sherman that he can't control Buddy, whose testosterone levels keep rising per transformation, as Buddy acted the exact opposite of who Sherman, and Buddy is now becoming an independent personality instead of a thin Sherman. Later, Carla talks to Sherman about her date with Buddy and Sherman takes the opportunity to ask Carla to dinner with his family, who promptly embarrass him by making various suggestive comments about their relationship, his grandmother especially pushing the question on whether or not they're having relations, and that there's nothing wrong to admitting if they are, calling it a beautiful thing. Cletus farts again. His confidence low and, after Carla mentions that she would like the opportunity to get to know the caring person she sometimes sees in Buddy's eyes, he uses the serum again. Sherman arrives at The Ritz as Buddy Love with Carla. When the dean spots him, Carla asks Buddy if he will take Sherman's place. With the Dean desperate to get the grant, he allows Buddy to talk to Hartley. He does, and he takes all the credit of his work to Hartley much to Carla's shock and outrage. Hartley and the dean are very impressed with his work, and the dean invites him to the alumni ball. Carla catches Buddy flirting with three women and dumps him out of disgust. Undaunted, he throws a loud party at Sherman's house that night, burning all the health food products in the fridge. Having transformed back to his normal self during the night, Sherman awakens to find himself surrounded by strange women. He has no memory of the previous night and is stunned to find the whole house in disarray. Carla arrives shortly thereafter to tell Sherman that she has left Buddy and to apologize about her encouraging Buddy to talk to Hartley. Carla finds the reverted Sherman with the women and breaks off their friendship as well. To add to Sherman's problems as he chases after her, he finds an eviction notice taped to his front door by his unseen grouchy downstairs neighbor and landlord, Mr. Wilson, owing to all the noise Buddy and the party had made during the night. After the falling out with Carla and Richmond gleefully telling Sherman that Buddy will be taking his place at the Alumni Ball, which means that Sherman is effectively fired from his job. At home, depressed, Sherman accidentally activates the VCR, where Buddy has left a message taunting Sherman and encouraging him to take the serum once again. This inspires Sherman to take his life back, resolved to prove that he can defeat Buddy. Sherman, having had enough of his alter ego, destroys all of the serum samples. However, Buddy, having anticipated this, has laced a sample of the serum in one of Sherman's diet shake cans, which Sherman drinks, causing him to transform into Buddy again. Jason that he has calculated that if he drinks 500 ml of the serum, he will have enough cellular stability to be thin forever, thus "killing" Sherman. However, he cannot drink all of that serum at once, as it would (literally) kill Sherman and therefore Buddy, too. Buddy, however, has a plan to drink 250 ml of the serum while still in the lab and the other 250 at the alumni ball. Sherman's young assistant Jason (John Ales) tries to stop him from going to the ball, but Buddy knocks him out and departs. At the ball, Buddy demonstrates the effects of the serum to the audience, but Jason arrives in time, as he has found out that Buddy's testosterone levels are at a lethally high 60,000%. Buddy plans to drink the serum to get rid of Sherman permanently, resulting in a fight between the two identities. The two of them get into a brief fist fight, but Sherman begins to fight Buddy from within. Sherman eventually transforms into his regular self and tells the alumni that he was wrong for what he did, that Buddy was who he thought he (and everybody else) wanted him to be, and that he should accept himself for who he is. As he leaves, Carla stops him and asks why he lied. He says he did not believe that she would accept him, but she says it doesn't matter if he is overweight or not. Carla forgives Sherman and invites him to dance with her. Jason presents Sherman with a tuxedo that will fit him. Richmond rehires Sherman and Hartley, impressed by Sherman's brilliance and genuine nature, donates the grant to Wellman. Sherman's mother cheers him on as he dances with Carla.