The movie, to its credit, talks a lot about faith in God and the power of prayer, as Buffalo anchorman-turned-congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) seeks divine guidance to fulfill his campaign promise to "change the world." But director Tom Shadyac and writer Steve Oedekerk seem to show more faith in cribbing Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and the power of special effects to hammer home their heavy-handed moralizing.

Evan's promise to "change the world" seems at first to mean he aims to bulldoze it. He drives a brand-new Hummer, puts his family in a gaudy McMansion and quickly backs a corrupt senior congressman (John Goodman) on a land-grab bill so big that it leveled a forest or two just by being printed.

Then strange things happen to Evan. A crate of woodworking tools is delivered to his house. Animals start following him, in pairs. His beard starts growing uncontrollably (violating Hollywood's eighth commandment: "Thou shalt not steal lame jokes from 'The Santa Clause' "). And then God - in the benevolent human form of Morgan Freeman, as in the first movie - shows up to tell Evan to build an ark, "and if anyone asks, tell them, 'Flood's coming.' "

So, too, come the predictable reactions, as a boatload of comic actors - Wanda Sykes, John Michael Higgins and Jonah Hill ("Knocked Up") as Evan's staffers, and Carell's "Daily Show" and "The Office" co-star Ed Helms as a TV reporter - are reduced to wisecracks and eye-rolling, followed by slackjawed amazement in the final reel. Faring the worst is sharp and sexy Lauren Graham, who should have more waiting for her after "Gilmore Girls" than playing the fretting wife (essentially what Teri Garr did in "Oh, God!" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind").

Carell, always adept at sacrificing dignity for a good joke, does generate a few laughs from Oedekerk's tepid script. But Shadyac's elbow-to-the-ribs style of comedy - his idea of a throwaway joke is a lingering shot of a movie marquee playing "The 40-Year-Old Virgin Mary" (see, it's a play off of Carell's old movie, and it's religious, get it?) - is as forced as the movie's spiritual message.

Using humor to teach about God can be a good thing. It's often said that God must have a sense of humor, because he created us. But God also gave us the brains to see through the sort of shallow sermonizing that "Evan Almighty" wants to pass off as true faith.

SEAN P. MEANS can be reached at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments about this review to livingeditor @sltrib.com.