Bewitched

I had a chance to see this movie at an advanced screening.

I'm sorry to say that there were people who walked out. Admittedly, the first half is kind of dull. The cute and funny parts are few and far between.

The plot is dragged down horribly by some really bad secondary characters. Uncle Arthur, Iris/Endora and Isabelle's father are all reaaaally dull and contrived. The movie comes to a grinding halt when they appear.

The script writing is quite clever, and Nicole Kidman (happy birthday today!) is great, as always. Will Ferrell just plain cracks me up. I would have liked to see the plot give him more goofy parts, because that's when he really shines.

All in all, not really a surprising movie. Wait and rent it!

The basic story is that Jack Wyatt, a washed-up movie actor, needs a new angle and decides it is television. Everyone settles on re-activating "Bewitched." Now he needs a Samantha and by accident picks the real thing (a witch).

You could guess the rest.

Everyone tried too hard. It was not uniquely anything except nothing.

Will Ferrell is not good at anything; in this case, he does his best at being annoying. Nicole Kidman is too cute at being cutesy. Only Michael Caine holds it together. That is what there is to hold together.

You do not even feel like kibitzing and will be glad when it is over.

Although it was not quite what I expected, Bewitched was not as bad as I have been led to believe, either. I am guessing that Will Ferrell is spreading himself a little too thin, as this movie was not as funny as his movies usually are. I did enjoy a couple of genuine, hearty laughs from this film, but again, not as many as expected. With those expectations in mind, this movie might seem to fall a little flat, but looking at the movie as a whole, it was still a delightful, little comedy that I enjoyed. Sure, it was not Bewitched, the sitcom, but it simply used the television series as somewhat of a guide line to go by. The story is a bit confusing when trying to compare to the show but is fine otherwise.

Jack Wyatt (Ferrell) is a down and out, nearly washed-up actor that has many bombs to his credit. He hatches a plan to remake the TV series "Bewitched", with himself in the starring role as Darren. The main difference between the remade TV show and the original is that Darren would be the focus and not Samantha, so for this reason, Jack decides he wants an unknown actress for the role, one he can virtually walk all over without knowing any better.

Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kidman, who is perfect for the role) is a naive witch who has just decided that she no longer wants to live her life getting everything she wants at the snap of her fingers and chooses to live more "normal", against the wishes of her father, Nigel Bigelow (Michael Caine).

Eventually, after many auditions, Jack runs into Isabel and is convinced she is perfect for the role. She is hesitant at first but decides to do the show. Everything is going fine until Isabel overhears Jack talking with the producers about how well the plan was going and this is where the fun begins. The scorned witch unleashes hell on poor Jack in many embarrassing situations.

We are even treated to cameos by Aunt Clara (Carole Shelley) and Uncle Arthur (Steve Carell). I am not sure how Uncle Arthur fit into the story other than to get Carell to do some hilarious stuff but Aunt Clara is actually Isabel's Aunt Clara, meant to be a coincidence. The resemblance between Carole Shelley and the original Aunt Clara, Marion Lorne, was absolutely uncanny. I was convinced she was the original, right down to her voice.

Overall, if you do not shoot your expectations too high, this is a nice little comedy featuring Ferrell, with Nicole Kidman more than holding her own with him. Isabel was a lovable and cute character. Bewitched did have a few surprises and was worthy of watching. 7/10

Conceited fading film star Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) has agreed to star as Darren in a redo of the old TV series "Bewitched". He wants an unknown to play Samantha--his wife who is also a witch. Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kideman) is an actual witch who wants to live a mortal life against the wishes of her father (Michael Caine). Ferrell sees her and wants to cast her in the series. There's the joke--a REAL witch trying to portray a fake witch on TV. Unfortunately that joke is repeated over and over and OVER in the film. It's a one joke film.

The film does have a lot of things going for it--Kidman is a delight as Isabel; Caine is lots of fun as her father; Shirley MacLaine has a short funny role playing Iris Smythson who plays Endora; the film looks great; the special effects are flawless and there are some great old appropriate songs scattered throughout. Unfortnataly the bad things outnumber the good.

For one thing Will Ferrell--I personally can't stand the guy. I've never found him funny. This movie doesn't change my opinion but he's not as bad as usual. Isabel also comes across as an idiot. She seems completely in awe of EVERYTHING in the world. She acts like she just came from another planet. Kidman's light performance saves her character from becoming completely unbearable. Also I could have lived without the constant product placement for Bed, Bath & Beyond. But the main problem is that the movie just isn't that funny. I smiled a few times but that was it. It's VERY likable--but nothing else.

**SPOILER ALERT** The movie is almost saved by Steve Carell doing a quick (and VERY funny) bit imitating Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur. Still that comes in 90 minutes into the movie--too late to save it. **END SPOILER**

An OK but not very fun movie. It's easy to see why this bombed. I give it a 6.

It's hard to imagine "Bewitched" having an overall score of 4.8 on IMDB. This would indicate that it's a pretty bad film...which is hard to imagine since the film stars Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell...and was written and directed by Nora Ephron. Yet, somehow the film was not a hit and is thought of as one of the worst movie any of these folks ever made...if not THE worst. I was curious about this...so I decided to torture myself and see.

Instead of just making a remake of the TV show, Ephron decided to do something unusual. The film is about an obnoxious and self-centered actor, Jack (Ferrell) and his attempt to make a new version of the old TV show "Bewitched". And, in the process, he accidentally comes in contact with a REAL witch, Isabel (Kidman), and hires her to co-star in this reboot. Unfortunately, she soon realizes that Jack is a jerk who wants her to essentially be a nothing on the show...with him, alone, being the star. She's furious and decides to hex him...or quit the show. What's next? See the film...or not.



So why did so many folks dislike this movie? Well, I think it's for a variety of reasons. First, and perhaps the biggest problem, is that it really is NOT a remake. Folks who adored the TV show were no doubt disappointed to see this. Second, and it's more of a minor quibble, but some characters are supposed to be from the show and others, such as Aunt Clara, are supposed to be real witches. This is pretty confusing and made little sense. Third, Will Ferrell's character was supposed to be unlikable...or at least an obnoxious actor. But they simply made him TOO unlikable...a real jerk. His being this awful also is a problem as it's hard to keep your interest in the story when you hate one of the main characters. Sure, he becomes nice later...but by then it's too late AND the transformation made little sense. Fourth, the film really could have been very funny. Oddly, however, there's barely a laugh in the film...and with these situations it's hard to imagine it not being funny. Fifth, with all this talent (not just Kidman, Ferrell and Ephron but Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine and Jason Schwartzman are in the movie), you expect so much better. Overall, it isn't terrible but it isn't very good either...and disappointing.

By the way, was there much about this film I liked? Well, I loved hearing Steve Lawrence singing "Bewitched", as if you didn't know better, you'd swear it was Sinatra himself singing the tune....that was pretty incredible.