Bewitched

A local critic really lambasted Bewitched as one of the worst movies of all time. As I sat in the theater watching this movie the first time (I saw it later today with a friend as well), I was wondering if he had seen the same movie I saw.

This movie is not really even a remake of the original Bewitched TV series, but it's a comedy about the making of a remake. The original series which was about a couple with a mortal male and a female witch and all of the situations where the witch tried, with varying degrees of success, to solve her/their problems with magic, while at the same time trying not to use magic so that she could live as a mortal. In this movie, Nicole Kidman plays a real witch who coincidentally ends up acting the Elizabeth Montgomery part. The two twists are that this movie isn't about the TV series, but rather is about the making of the TV series and, secondly, that the actress playing the wife who's a witch actually is a witch. So, essentially, it kind of asks the question: "What would have happened if Elizabeth Montgomery really were a witch?"

Will Ferrell plays an actor who's had a run of movie flops and signs on to play the husband in the TV series to jump-start his career. He insists that the focus of the show will not be on the husband, not the witchy wife. To this end, he wants a total unknown playing his wife. There is a problem, however, in that whoever plays the role has to be able to do the famous nose twitch perfected by the original actress in the TV series, Elizabeth Montgomery. By accident, Ferrell stumbles upon Kidman in a bookstore where she is taking in her first experiences living life as a mortal and trying, with mixed success, not to use magic.

She is very naive and trusting and accepts his invitation to play the role. She soon discovers, however, that it's his intention to upstage her and simply use her to boost his own career. Since she has feelings for him, she is upset and the rest of the movie is about all the funny events whic follow.

I must say I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Ferrell is his hilarious self, and it's obvious he had plenty of room to ad lib lines.

The real revelation, however, is Nicole Kidman, who reminds us one more time that she's one of the most talented and versatile and surprising female talents in the acting biz. Much of her vocal inflection here is borrowed loosely from Marilyn Monroe's blonde-speak. Kidman's face is at all times expressive and it's almost impossible to take your eyes off her even when other characters are on the screen with her. She's an extremely talented comic actress, and for evidence of her versatility, let's review some of her other roles by simply mentioning the movie titles. You've probably seen most of them: Dead Calm, Days of Thunder, To Die For, Batman Forever, Eyes Wide Shut, Moulin Rouge, The Others, Cold Mountain, and The Interpreter. She is always good, even in a so-so movie.

At least one critic has complained about product placement in this movie. While I understand that many people are anti-business, logos and trademarked designs and so forth are part of everyday life. So what if a scene takes place in a Bed, Bath, and Beyond or if Starbuck's is mentioned. We live in America and these things are part of our everyday life. What would a movie be like that studiously avoided featuring the very objects that populate the everyday landscape? I'd like to see someone try it and give us a movie that doesn't rather strange. Nowadays, one can't totally escape these things in places like Havana or Peking.

This movie being a comedy, the only standard (as Roger Ebert rightly has said) is does it get laughs? And I can tell you theaudience laughed at this movie, and laughed quite a bit. That included me, so this movie, while not destined for an Oscar, was a success. Evenso, Ebert didn't give it a thumbs up, either. Maybe he should screen comedies with a real audience.