Bewitched Review

Bewitched
On-the-skids movie star Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) attempts a comeback as Darrin Stephens in a remake of classic sit-com Bewitched, unknowingly casting a real witch (Nicole Kidman) as Samantha…

by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:

19 Aug 2005

Running Time:

102 minutes

Certificate:

PG

Original Title:

Bewitched

The formula for transferring TV shows to the big screen is pretty much set in stone by now. Snap up the rights, round up a few lower-tier A-listers with a passing resemblance to the original cast (Ben Stiller is David Starsky!), pop into Plots-R-Us, put your faith in the almighty god of brand recognition, then tune out the snide reviews and wait for the nostalgia boom to kick in at the box office. Okay, it’s hit and miss — Charlie’s Angels 2, anyone? — but certainly less risky than doing something, hush-our-mouths, original. And in the rare instances where system-bucking does occur (Josie And The Pussycats, for instance: a throwaway Saturday morning cartoon elevated to wicked pop-culture satire) the financial returns have been predictably dire.

We should be happy, then, that writer-director Nora Ephron throws the dog-eared playbook defiantly out the window with her adaptation of beloved re-run fodder Bewitched. In essence

it’s a prolonged meta-joke on the whole recycling trend itself, involving a narcissistic movie star (Will Ferrell) attempting to revive his flagging career via a remake of the classic sit-com and inadvertently casting a real witch (Kidman) in the process. Great idea. The trouble is, if there was ever a TV show begging for straight treatment, it’s Bewitched. A charming, evergreen treat, itself a coy lift from subversive, gay-coded play Bell, Book And Candle, it was kitschy high concept personified: suburbanite everyman marries a going-straight witch. Adorable hijinks ensue. So while you can admire Ephron’s chutzpah, it’s less easy to like her movie, which simply tries far too hard.

The same can be said of Ferrell who takes his usually infallible shtick to uncomfortably manic levels. Still, it’s not all bad: Kidman is delicious, all wide-eyed and breathy, dithering at the prospect of her new life in the real world. And it does have its moments

— a swoony sequence where Ferrell and Kidman fall in love, larking about on a deserted soundstage; Ferrell wailing, “Am I going to get pregnant?” when Kidman finally comes clean. But it’s too clever for its own good and, with apologies for hitting a sitter, the magic just isn’t there.

A spirited attempt to pump some originality into a tired formula, but sadly, bar the odd moment, it’s neither funny nor charming enough, proving a disappointing treatment of fabulous source material.
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