danreed80

I'm a huge Bewitched fan, but this episode was simply a slapdash effort. The premise (that sick willow tree) could've been resolved with a single twitch of Samantha's mighty nose-but then the episode would've been over in two minutes, and they needed to fill 25! Then there's the botched treatments from (the hilarious) Dr. Bombay that caused Samantha to either incessantly laugh or cry, which was equally irritating either way (despite my boundless love for Elizabeth Montgomery). The scant laughs in this episode came courtesy of Larry Tate and, especially, Dr. Bombay, but they weren't enough to save the episode from mediocrity.

This was supposed to be an erotic thriller, I think, but it ended up being something akin to a comedy because of all the hilariously bizarre plot twists that can only make sense in the head of the whoever wrote this drivel. The 'thriller' part was sophomoric and the 'erotic' part was gratuitous and forced. Perhaps worst of all, the actor who played Sweeney's boyfriend either has a speech impediment or he deliberately used a weird affectation to the way he spoke that made listening to him like hearing nails on a chalkboard; he alone would be reason enough to avoid watching this thing. Save yourself almost two hours of your life you're never getting back...

Emma Thompson is truly one of the very finest actors working today; she doesn't so much play a character as she becomes the character. Watching her is a master class in how to portray every nuance of the character in a natural yet captivating way that makes you hang on her every word, every look and every gesture. I felt for the woman she portrayed; in fact I felt like I knew the woman she portrayed like an old friend by the end of the movie. Very few, if any, actors succeed in fleshing out fictional characters and making you forget that you're watching make believe like she does. Outside of her delightful presence, the movie was just ok; it would probably have been better had they made it 45min-1hr long, which would have avoided the parts where it dragged on and the pace fell; some scenes felt like they belonged to a play rather than a movie. Daryl Mccormack did a pretty decent job himself and held his own against Thompson, which is high praise indeed. Having said that, this was an Emma Thompson vehicle and I seriously doubt I would've sat through the whole thing had her role been played by any other actress, with the exception of very few.