Review: Bewitched

Posted by: Tom Milroy  •  June 24, 2005 @ 11:59am

Filed under: Reviews

The tagline for the movie Bewitched goes like this: "Be Warned. Be Ready". Here's how it should read: "Be Not Funny. Be Waste of My Time". Whoever green-lighted this movie for Sony needs his or head examined. This movie is so bad it should star Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

All right, let's dissect Bewitched and find out where it went wrong. Have you seen Will Ferrell in Old School, Anchorman, and Kicking and Screaming?. He plays the same guy and he does it again here. Your act is wearing thin, Will. Nicole Kidman is the perfect choice to play Samantha, the kindly witch, but who in the world asked for a re-make? The TV show was cute, but it was of its time (the 60s) and really didn't offer up that many laughs.

In this version, Nicole plays Isabel Bigelow, a witch who wants to be a "normal" person and swears to give up witchcraft. Without spoiling anything, she keeps using witchcraft! Will Ferrell is Jack Wyatt, a has-been movie actor who lands a job on the TV show Bewitched. (Enough plot, I'm boring myself.) Shirley MacLaine plays Endora and Michael Caine plays Isabel's father. Steve Carell, who was in Anchorman with Ferrell, comes off best as Uncle Arthur, played in the TV series by Paul Lynde.

This movie is directed by someone who should know better, Nora Ephron, the same woman who gave us Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and Silkwood. And what of Nicole Kidman? Last year she made the horrible Stepford Wives and now this. Nicole, if someone suggets you re-make The Golden Girls, just twitch your nose and make it go away.