evan_almighty_Shadyac

Back in the 90s, Tom Shadyac was one of the hottest comedy directors around, who had hits with Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Patch Adams, and Bruce Almighty.  Then in 2007, he directed Evan Almighty, which went disastrously over budget (with estimates as high as $250 million) and didn’t earn out.  He sort of disappeared after that, but he recently sold the distribution rights to I Am, a first-person documentary chronicling his “unusual journey of self-discovery”, which sounds a lot less sexy when not applied to a softcore flick about a bicurious lady.

The pic begins after a cycling accident left Shadyac with a concussion that didn’t go away for months. It left him disoriented and unable to work or do much of anything but reflect on his life. By the time he came out of it, Shadyac was ready to throw away the trappings of his A-list life for something more fulfilling. After a slow recovery, Shadyac sold his house, moved to a mobile home community and tried to start over. His metamorphosis is the subject of the film,  which includes meetings with the likes of Noam Chomsky and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. [Deadline]

I have to admit, I don’t think a trailer park would be the first place I’d look for fulfillment, but your mom seems to do all right. (Get it? trailer park? “filled”? your mom? …Ugh, fine, I’ll keep working on it.).  I just hope that he took time to meet his real trailer park neighbors, and not just Noam Chomsky and professor Desmond Dekker Ballerina Guy.  People like this chick. She seems to have it all figured out.:

“Stay positive,” I think was the thrust of her message. (contains NSFW language)

[Here's an interview with Shadyac, but to be honest, it didn't tell me much about the movie]