A Feiticeira

Conceited fading film star Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) has agreed to star as Darren in a redo of the old TV series "Bewitched". He wants an unknown to play Samantha--his wife who is also a witch. Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kideman) is an actual witch who wants to live a mortal life against the wishes of her father (Michael Caine). Ferrell sees her and wants to cast her in the series. There's the joke--a REAL witch trying to portray a fake witch on TV. Unfortunately that joke is repeated over and over and OVER in the film. It's a one joke film.

The film does have a lot of things going for it--Kidman is a delight as Isabel; Caine is lots of fun as her father; Shirley MacLaine has a short funny role playing Iris Smythson who plays Endora; the film looks great; the special effects are flawless and there are some great old appropriate songs scattered throughout. Unfortnataly the bad things outnumber the good.

For one thing Will Ferrell--I personally can't stand the guy. I've never found him funny. This movie doesn't change my opinion but he's not as bad as usual. Isabel also comes across as an idiot. She seems completely in awe of EVERYTHING in the world. She acts like she just came from another planet. Kidman's light performance saves her character from becoming completely unbearable. Also I could have lived without the constant product placement for Bed, Bath & Beyond. But the main problem is that the movie just isn't that funny. I smiled a few times but that was it. It's VERY likable--but nothing else.

**SPOILER ALERT** The movie is almost saved by Steve Carell doing a quick (and VERY funny) bit imitating Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur. Still that comes in 90 minutes into the movie--too late to save it. **END SPOILER**

An OK but not very fun movie. It's easy to see why this bombed. I give it a 6.

Please give me a break. The idea was quite original but somewhere the whole thing went south. I truly feel bad for Nicole Kidman and Will Farrell. There were so many ways this movie could have went instead of disappointing the true die hard Bewitched fans.

Weak plot, undefined characters, I truly felt as if someone said, "OK, we're bored with this, let's piece it together and call it a day." It would been nice if Isabel could have been seen as someone who was smarter and not so vulnerable and innocent.

I would put this in the same category of any 12 year old "I wanna be a pricess" movie. You wait three decades to find out what happened to Darrin and Samantha and you get a remake that's not really a remake. Some of the characters are from the original, some are transformed to the movie, some are just unknown. What happened? I'm insulted that Nora Ephron thought any true fan would be pleased with this movie.

Didn't someone think about running this by the true fans before rushing it out to a theater? There were times I was embarrassed to be in the audience. A total waste of $16.

A few funny moments but not worth the pain of sitting through the entire movie -- and I'm an easy laugh.

It's hard to imagine "Bewitched" having an overall score of 4.8 on IMDB. This would indicate that it's a pretty bad film...which is hard to imagine since the film stars Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell...and was written and directed by Nora Ephron. Yet, somehow the film was not a hit and is thought of as one of the worst movie any of these folks ever made...if not THE worst. I was curious about this...so I decided to torture myself and see.

Instead of just making a remake of the TV show, Ephron decided to do something unusual. The film is about an obnoxious and self-centered actor, Jack (Ferrell) and his attempt to make a new version of the old TV show "Bewitched". And, in the process, he accidentally comes in contact with a REAL witch, Isabel (Kidman), and hires her to co-star in this reboot. Unfortunately, she soon realizes that Jack is a jerk who wants her to essentially be a nothing on the show...with him, alone, being the star. She's furious and decides to hex him...or quit the show. What's next? See the film...or not.



So why did so many folks dislike this movie? Well, I think it's for a variety of reasons. First, and perhaps the biggest problem, is that it really is NOT a remake. Folks who adored the TV show were no doubt disappointed to see this. Second, and it's more of a minor quibble, but some characters are supposed to be from the show and others, such as Aunt Clara, are supposed to be real witches. This is pretty confusing and made little sense. Third, Will Ferrell's character was supposed to be unlikable...or at least an obnoxious actor. But they simply made him TOO unlikable...a real jerk. His being this awful also is a problem as it's hard to keep your interest in the story when you hate one of the main characters. Sure, he becomes nice later...but by then it's too late AND the transformation made little sense. Fourth, the film really could have been very funny. Oddly, however, there's barely a laugh in the film...and with these situations it's hard to imagine it not being funny. Fifth, with all this talent (not just Kidman, Ferrell and Ephron but Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine and Jason Schwartzman are in the movie), you expect so much better. Overall, it isn't terrible but it isn't very good either...and disappointing.

By the way, was there much about this film I liked? Well, I loved hearing Steve Lawrence singing "Bewitched", as if you didn't know better, you'd swear it was Sinatra himself singing the tune....that was pretty incredible.

Nicole Kidman makes the whole wretched thing almost palatable. The, supposedly, inventiveness of this farce within a farce is hammered on with such lack of subtlety that, sometimes, you want to shout at the screen "Hey you! We're not brain dead! We got it! Move on! Will Ferrell is still a great TV comedian. How is it possible that nobody has told him that on the big screen less is more. Strangely, Nicole Kidman, the witch, is totally rooted in reality, we believe her. Will Ferrell, the mortal, is a loud caricature from beginning to end and we just can't get the attraction. There are some little perks however, Carole Shelley as Aunt Clara took me, thankfully, out of the movie and I spent at least 15 minutes asking myself where I've seen this actress before - The Odd Couple, one of the Pigeon sisters! Goodness! I was uncomfortable with Shirley MacLaine's cameo because I love her and I could only focus on the strange tightness in her face. I am a Kidmanite through and through that's why I go to see everything she does because I know that, even if she's involved in something quite beneath her, she manages to sparkle, to shine to surprise. Thank God for you Nicole.

I quite enjoyed Bewitched. I was familiar with the TV show of the 60s and believe Elizabeth Montgomery made the role her own. However Nicole Kidman wasn't too bad and even mastered the iconic nose twitch for the role. The story was quite interesting, believable to an extent and entertaining. Will Ferrell also did a great job as her co- star. As far as remakes go this was pretty well done and had some decent performances.

I do not feel it deserves such a low rating as I too was a fan of the classic TV show and can appreciate this film. I won't be surprised if people listened to 'critics' and made up their minds not to like it. However every person who fancies him or herself as a reasonable film critic should consider the canon law. Thou must not judge a film on its reviews but on its merit and worth.