CriticSociety- film reviews

Review

Bewitched

Director

Nora Ephron

Year

2005

Rating

Reviewed by

José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris

Review date

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

You know, I don’t really mind all the remakes that Hollywood keeps coming up with, as long as they’re fun or good on some level. Remaking old classics almost always results in a lesser movie, but remaking TV shows is a different story. Some turn out to be pretty good, depending on the approach. With Bewitched, sisters Delia and Nora Ephron opted to avoid remaking the beloved show and instead had the idea to make a movie about people who are actually remaking it. Get it? Clever… not!

Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) is a well-known film actor in the urge to revive his career after the disastrous results of his latest venture. His agent, Ritchie (Jason Schwartzman), thus recommends to star as Darrin in a new version of “Bewitched”. Jack accepts, but only if he can choose his leading lady to play Samantha, and if they tone down her role and make the series mostly about him. After a tiresome search, he meets Isabel (Nicole Kidman) at a library and realizes she can twitch her nose as Elizabeth Montgomery used to, so he hires her. As it happens, Isabel is a real witch, one who is tired of always getting away with things only because of her powers, and longs for a human, ordinary relationship, finding in Jack the perfect example of the mess of a man she craves for.

What the fuck?

Yeah, what the fuck?

I went into the movie with moderate expectations. I’d heard it sucked but I hoped I would like it because I’m such a huge Nicole fan and because I liked the series the few times I came to see it, so there was that nostalgia factor.

Right.

Truth is, the movie is a mess. It doesn’t really know what it wants to be. You can’t really make a romantic comedy and a Hollywood satire if you’re not one of the most skilled writers or directors in the world. And this movie tries to be both. One scene you get a cute moment, the next you get biting sarcasm. And it’s all such a horrible miss-match that you start wondering “why the hell was all this nonsense created to pay homage to such a sweet and charming comedic series of yesteryear?” I started to wish they had gone with a straightforward remake instead of this weird hybrid.

I also have to mention that a lot of my problems regarding the movie have to do with Will Ferrell. It is as if the script was modified to suit him and his “comedic” antics. And he’s so over-the-top, like Jim Carrey in steroids. He does have a couple of funny scenes, but after a while it becomes so tiresome that I just wanted to kick his ass so he could shut the hell up. It is also quite pathetic to realize this is a comedy, but almost all of his scenes fall flat. I started to become embarrassed!!! And when a movie makes you feel that way… it’s not good.

Nicole Kidman, in the meantime, is barely ok. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that’s what I thought. She keeps talking in whispers, trying desperately to be as sweet and cute as she can, but she starts becoming tiresome after a while as well. Michael Caine cleverly appears now and then to give the movie a change of pace, but I even thought he was lame! A movie that makes Caine look lame should be really ashamed of itself. Sporadic moments of fun are delivered by the deliciously nasty Shirley McLaine, whom I wish was more in the movie, for I got a kick out of most of her scenes. That said, her character goes nowhere and it’s a pity. The whole movie goes nowhere. There are instances of intelligent, witty comedy here and there, but most of it is pure crap.

Stick to TV…

“Yes, I'm watching it, and you're right, he is a great big male reproductive organ!”

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