By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With a little divine help, comedian Jim Carrey (news) propelled the lucrative summer box office season to a record-breaking start over the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Carrey's new film "Bruce Almighty," in which the 40-year-old Canadian plays a disenchanted newsman entrusted with omnipotence by God himself, sold a better-than-expected $86 million worth of tickets in its first four days.

The film ended the one-week reign of the sci-fi thriller "The Matrix Reloaded," which slipped to No. 2 with $45.6 million as its 12-day total raced to $209.5 million. It becomes the second-fastest film to reach the double-century mark (11 days versus nine for 2002's "Spider-Man").

The "Bruce Almighty" haul ranks as the second-best Memorial Day opening ever, behind only "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," which launched with $90.2 million in 1997.

The top 12 movies grossed an estimated $155.8 million, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. If the numbers hold when final data are released on Tuesday, the haul will top last year's record sum of $152.5 million.

Carrey's star power aside, the grim weather also played a part, forcing Americans to ditch their traditional holiday barbecues for popcorn at the local multiplex.

"Bruce Almighty" also set new benchmarks for Carrey himself and for a non-sequel comedy. Its three-day sum of $70.8 million surpassed the 2000 Carrey hit "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which held both those records with a $55.1 million opening.

CARREY SEDUCES FEMALE FANS

Budgeted at $81 million, "Bruce Almighty" was released by Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Pictures, which partnered on the project with closely held producer Spyglass Entertainment. It was directed by Tom Shadyac, who previously worked with Carrey on the hit comedies "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "Liar Liar." Morgan Freeman (news) co-stars as God, and Jennifer Aniston (news) as Carrey's girlfriend.

Universal Pictures distribution president Nikki Rocco said she had expected the film to open in the $50 million to $60 million range. "I think it's a very moral film," she said.

While Carrey was obviously the key attraction, Aniston's presence and the romantic elements possibly accounted for the larger-than-usual female turnout. Women accounted for 53 percent of the audience, according to exit polling data. Carrey's movies usually do best with young males.

Rounding out the top five were the Eddie Murphy (news) comedy "Daddy Day Care" at No. 3 with $18 million; the superhero action movie "X2: X-Men United" at No. 4 with $13.1 million; and the new Michael Douglas (news) comedy remake "The In-Laws" at No. 5 with a disappointing $9.1 million.

"The Matrix Reloaded" and "The In-Laws" were released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. ; "Daddy Day Care" was released by Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s Columbia Pictures. "X2: X-Men United" was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group Inc .

1. Bruce Almighty .......... $85,734,045

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $85,734,045

2. The Matrix: Reloaded .......... $45,612,152

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $209,481,877

3. Daddy Day Care .......... $18,113,333

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $73,254,194

4. X2: X-Men United .......... $13,237,398

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $192,197,843

5. The In-Laws .......... $9,222,334

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $9,222,334

6. Down with Love .......... $5,055,054

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $14,582,029

7. The Lizzie McGuire Movie .......... $4,317,247

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $37,599,278

8. Holes .......... $3,227,634

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $60,235,819

9. Identity .......... $2,682,373

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $49,263,016

10. Anger Management .......... $2,300,346

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $131,745,970

John L.: Jim Carrey is not back. He never left really. Mr. Carrey is now up there with Tom Hanks and Cruise, Julia Roberts, Reese Whitherspoon, Denzel Washington, and Adam Sandler when it comes to bringing people to the theaters on their name alone. The Majestic was just a hiccup as most of his movies do very well at the box office. Man on the Moon's failure was not Carrey's or the film's fault, it was just that no one cares about Andy Kaufman. But when Jim is doing one of his crazy comedies, most of the time people flock to the cinema, and this time they did it in record numbers besting everyone but Tobey Maguire, Samuel L. Jackson, and Keanu Reeves. I am personally shocked at "Bruce Almighty's" totals this weekend. No one predicted that amount. It is all about the promotion when a movie opens like this and the trailers for BA were nothing special but they established the plot very well and that was enough. Jim Carrey gets the powers of God and goes nuts. Simple and to the point of nearly $86 million in four days. That's more money than the last 5 Jennifer Aniston movies combined grossed. Albert Brooks continues to be the critics' favorite comedian that the mass audience continues to ignore as the In-Laws remake opens poorly. However, it is one of the highest opening weekends for a Brooks movie ever and the competition is extremely strong on Memorial Day this year so I would say it is not a complete failure. However hyping a movie as having a moment where Brooks is shown getting out of a hot tub in a thong is not going to have people lined around the block.

Bruce Almighty is a feel good picture. The whole purpose is to make the viewer laugh and feel better about themselves and their life. A reaffirmation that most things will turn out okay if given a chance and a little bit of your own elbow grease is thrown in. Don't rely on some higher power to provide all the answers when you as an individual have the most power to change what may be wrong in your life. We have the free will to do whatever we want and very few things can stop it. In Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey plays disgruntled television news field reporter, Bruce Nolan. Through mostly the fault of his own, his life just not seem to be advancing as well as he would like. He can't get the anchor spot, the cookie chef picks his nose, his girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston) is crinkly faced all the time, and his dog pees on the furniture. Obviously Job himself never had it so tough. Bruce curses God for forsaking him, so God (Morgan Freeman) decides to have some fun and give Bruce the almighty powers of his divineness. Since it's Jim Carrey and not Jimmy Stewart getting these fancy tricks, Bruce is a bit more chaotic when it comes to responsibility. Move the cars out of the way in traffic, part the tomato soup like it's the red sea, check out what's doing under a cute girl's dress, and set up a website to collect the prayers of the needy. All of this ends up being mildly entertaining and quite humorous but overall a bit blah. This movie could have been G rated with the attitude it takes toward religion and faith. The premise and its execution is strictly TV movie of the week. Of all the things one could do with the powers of God, nothing out of the basic 12 year old mentality is explored. Just one funny Carrey face to the next is all the transition needed. You come out of the theater saying to yourself, "is that it?" There is no Satan, no conversations on why good people die, bad people live, wars, world hunger, poverty, or any of the other crazy stuff that goes on in this existence that you would think someone as hyped up as God is, would stop from happening as much as it does. Questions like these are briefly touched upon when everyone's prayers are answered at one point and you learn why that was not a good idea. The confines of being a comedy is used as an excuse to just gloss over any substantive issues. Everything shown in the trailer is pretty much everything that Bruce does with his Godhood. There is no twist to the plot that veers away from the norm. Jim Carrey is fine, but is not manic enough. He perfected this odd power persona in "Liar Liar" which was much funnier and better put together. In fact, it is almost the same script. Carrey's gimmick is getting old and what was hilarious in 1994 is now just pretty funny now leaning toward somewhat amusing. Drama is not his forte, but he needs to update his comedic style or this may be the last time he sees box office totals like these. As it stands, it still works quite well for him mainly because people love Carrey as a performer. When he is on, he seems to be talking to the audience and not going by what was on the scripted page. That unexpectedness has made his career. His best work was in Cable Guy when he took his comedic side to a dark world that challenged the audience. It was not a big success initially, but for those that actually have seen it, and many have on cable and video, say it is some of his best work. But, until his current nice guy stuff wears thin, he should keep doing what brings the butts to the seats and is not completely creatively bankrupt. Jennifer Aniston has her first box office hit, and the first one for a "Friends" cast member since Scream 3. It seems that Jim Carrey and Friends equals box office gold as "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective" had Courtney Cox and was huge for its day. I used to like Aniston as a performer when she was on the sketch FOX show, "The Edge," and her Friends work is admirable, while her films have been suspect. She seems stuck in her Rachel Green mode and it hurts her performance. A little botox would help those crinkles between your eyebrows and laugh lines. Just sayin'. Morgan Freeman is good as God, but I have to say it's sort of messed up that Hollywood shows God in the image of a black man and the first thing they have him do is take time off from his job. Even when you thing Tha Man is givin' a brutha a chance, they still find a way to goof on him. Even though the subtle racism did not get by me, Freeman's respect as an actor makes him a believable deity. He's been "God" to me since I was 6 and watched him as Easy Reader on "Electric Company." Bruce Almighty has its funny moments and it will make you laugh. For those who are religious, it shouldn't offend too much as it is quite pro church. For its lack of depth, it does show the consequences of unselfish Godly actions and what they can do to the world if unchecked. Those consequences are fairly inconsequential, but at least the effort was made. Also, the scenes with the dog are laugh out loud funny and disgusting at the same time. The dog steals the movie from Carrey which is a little sad. Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; B-; thumbs up.

1. The Matrix Reloaded may be in second place with a 60 percent drop from week one, but I still have to go with a movie making over $200 million in less than 2 weeks a major success.

2. Daddy Day Care is now officially the infamous sleeper hit of the summer until something else comes out of the blue that catches on with the masses.

3. People goof on Matrix's box office, but X2 has been out longer than Reloaded and it still has not crossed the $200 million mark.

4. Michael Douglas is having a tough year so far as The In-Laws and "It Runs in the Family" are not performing up to his regular standards.

5. I say it's a backlash against Douglas for distorting Catherine Zeta-Jones' body so much over the last 3 years.

6. Even though Down With Love is a downer at the box office, I think it has out grossed "Pillow Talk."

7. This will be the last Lizzie McGuire movie since Hilary Duff has parted ways with Disney.

8. Holes would have been a sleeper hit if Eddy Murphy had decided to tell those kids to eff off.

9. Identity should have been a sleeper hit, but the producers had to hire Amanda Peet.

10. No one is angry at the performance of Anger Management over the last several weeks.

Next week we have Marky Mark doing another remake of a movie no one wants remaid with "The Italian Job." I have two words for Mr. Wahlberg when it comes to remaking Michael Caine movies, "Get Carter." Bye for now.