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Bewitched
Sony Pictures
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine
Director: Nora Ephron
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Abstract: It was the best of movies; it was the worst of movies.
Bewitched, starring the hilarious Will Ferrell and the ultra-talented Nicole Kidman starts off as a very funny revival of the original series. Unfortunately, about half way in, it got distracted by the love story between the two main characters and forgot to be funny after that.
The premise, which is not as convoluted as it sounds, has formerly successful, but now struggling actor Jack Wyatt (Ferrell) deciding to reprise the role of Darren in an updated version of the original Bewitched TV series. When he runs across Isabel (Kidman), he is impressed by her inadvertent nose-wiggling which is eerily similar to the nose-wiggling of Samantha, the witch from the original series, so he recruits her to be the new Samantha. Little does he know that Isabel actually is a witch and she is trying, just like the original Samantha, to find a normal life where the witch-men can’t use magic to impress the witch-women. She is quickly intoxicated by Jack’s desperation and agrees to play his wife in the new TV series.
There are several amusing scenes to follow as Isabel is confused by the strange behaviors of non-witches and doesn’t realize that Jack is trying to make her a background character in the new Bewitched so that he can be the star. Ferrell then has some great opportunities to show off his considerable comedic talents when Isabel finds out that he’s been trying to upstage her and punishes him by putting a spell or two on him.
Then, unfortunately, at about the hour mark, the official love story takes over. That would be a good time to leave, because the laughs dry up as we are forced to watch the two characters running or flying around proving their earnest love for each other. Not that I have anything against it being a love story, but, once again, the writers of the movie Delia and Nora Ephron, seem to have gotten so caught up in the formula of how a movie love story is supposed to go that they lose track of the more interesting story they had developed to that point.
I recommend renting this movie and pretending that it’s a one hour TV show.
Review by Geckles
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Credit: Sony Pictures
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REVIEW LIST
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Average Review Rating:
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Nora Ephron's remake of the '60s sitcom Bewitches does what it sets out to do; provides viewers a pleasant diversion of light humor and slapstick.
I did find that chosing to cast high-voltage actors Kidman & Ferrell, and even more notably MacLaine & Caine, to be the cinematic equivalent of choosing a baseball bat to swat a fly. As much as I did enjoy the performances, I felt slightly ill-at-ease watching Michael Caine cavort in a movie whose dialogue was beneath his considerable talents.
Instead of producing a straight remake of the classic TV show, Ephron has gone in an imaginatively loopy direction; the movie is about the remaking of the classic TV show, in which real witch Isabel (Kidman) is accidentally hired to play the part of Samantha. Ferrell plays the part of the actor playing her TV husband Darren, whose narcissistic nature drives him to attempt to upstage his co-star.
The bulk of the movie's charm comes from the MacLaine & Caine, who play, respectively, TV witch matriarch Endora, and Isabel's warlock Father.
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