I AM, the documentary

I have never been much of a fan of Jim Carrey, and before I saw this documentary, I had never heard of Tom Shadyac. He directed Jim Carrey in some of his biggest hits, like Bruce Almighty and Ace Ventura. I think I saw Bruce Almighty, but it was by accident rather than design. His kind of humor has never been my favorite, since I tend to lean toward satirical stuff like Jon Stewart and even some British humor like Monty Python. I remember nothing from that movie.

But I will remember this documentary for a long time, partly because it spoke to me of things I've always believed, like the fact that the heart is the seat of emotion and that our hearts and minds can change the world, if we get aligned with other like-minded people. After I got home from seeing the movie, I immediately went to Rotten Tomatoes to find that only 44% of the reviewers liked it, but 79% of the audience did. Yep, my kind of movie, all right. I sat in the movie and wept over parts of it, cringed over other parts, and let my imagination and desire sweep me away for the rest of it.

The title comes from Tom Shadyac, who asked the question about what's wrong with the world today, and what can be done to change it. He had amassed a fortune from those comedies he either directed, wrote, or produced, owning a huge mansion in Beverly Hills and his own private jet. But then he had a bicycle accident that left him very injured and depressed. He began to wonder what he needed to do in order to become happy. He knew that wealth itself was not the answer, so he wrote and directed the documentary I AM in order to find out. The documentary has many notables in it, like Desmond Tutu (who I just love to listen to), Thom Hartmann and Noam Chomsky, to name a few others.

Roger Ebert was not a fan. He wrote this review, and he says the following therein:

You see, I am a rationalist. That means I'm not an ideal viewer for a documentary like "I Am," which involves the ingestion of Woo Woo in industrial bulk. When I see a man whose mind is being read by yogurt, I expect to find that man in a comedy starring, oh, someone like Jim Carrey.

You either love it or you leave the theater with the taste of industrial Woo Woo in your mouth. I loved it but then again, I was once removed from serving on a jury of my peers because of being way too much of a bleeding heart liberal. If you get a chance to see this documentary, I would really like to know what YOU think of it. In my heart of hearts, I believe that I am changing the world for the better, and this documentary affirms that belief.