Tasteless rewrite of "The Devil and Daniel Webster" has a struggling novelist named Jabez Stone unable to get anything published much less find anyone to read his work; he enters into a pact with a comely female Satan for fame and fortune in exchange for his immortal soul. Update of Archibald Macleish's play "Scratch" and 1941's far-superior "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (wherein a panicked farmer was the tempted man) was produced and directed by its star, Alec Baldwin. There's a fine supporting cast including Anthony Hopkins as lawyer Daniel Webster and Jennifer Love Hewitt as the Devil but, unfortunately, the picture was edited against Baldwin's wishes after sitting on the shelf for years (it finally debuted on the Starz network in 2007 after a few theatrical bookings). The film begins well but quickly loses its footing once Baldwin's writer gains the success he so desired, turning the picture into a yuppie treatise on the old money-can't-buy-happiness ploy. The filmmakers are so out-of-touch, they don't even consider the fact that maybe some of the writer's needs are in fact fulfilled by his newfound celebrity. Instead, he becomes a sad sack with money in the bank and women at his feet--clearly not something actual struggling writers can identify with. Worse, there's never a moment when Stone's heart is detectable; Baldwin is so callow an actor (not to mention as the director) that all we perceive are his handsome, unmodulated externals. Pursing his lips and gazing intently at the camera, hoping to smolder, Baldwin loses track of the character and where he came from. The final courtroom battle is well-played, though so much of the writing is smarmy and executed without style that the overall results are distinctly unsatisfactory. *1/2 from ****
