A Feiticeira

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.

I had a chance to see this movie at an advanced screening.

I'm sorry to say that there were people who walked out. Admittedly, the first half is kind of dull. The cute and funny parts are few and far between.

The plot is dragged down horribly by some really bad secondary characters. Uncle Arthur, Iris/Endora and Isabelle's father are all reaaaally dull and contrived. The movie comes to a grinding halt when they appear.

The script writing is quite clever, and Nicole Kidman (happy birthday today!) is great, as always. Will Ferrell just plain cracks me up. I would have liked to see the plot give him more goofy parts, because that's when he really shines.

All in all, not really a surprising movie. Wait and rent it!

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.

Although it was not quite what I expected, Bewitched was not as bad as I have been led to believe, either. I am guessing that Will Ferrell is spreading himself a little too thin, as this movie was not as funny as his movies usually are. I did enjoy a couple of genuine, hearty laughs from this film, but again, not as many as expected. With those expectations in mind, this movie might seem to fall a little flat, but looking at the movie as a whole, it was still a delightful, little comedy that I enjoyed. Sure, it was not Bewitched, the sitcom, but it simply used the television series as somewhat of a guide line to go by. The story is a bit confusing when trying to compare to the show but is fine otherwise.

Jack Wyatt (Ferrell) is a down and out, nearly washed-up actor that has many bombs to his credit. He hatches a plan to remake the TV series "Bewitched", with himself in the starring role as Darren. The main difference between the remade TV show and the original is that Darren would be the focus and not Samantha, so for this reason, Jack decides he wants an unknown actress for the role, one he can virtually walk all over without knowing any better.

Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kidman, who is perfect for the role) is a naive witch who has just decided that she no longer wants to live her life getting everything she wants at the snap of her fingers and chooses to live more "normal", against the wishes of her father, Nigel Bigelow (Michael Caine).

Eventually, after many auditions, Jack runs into Isabel and is convinced she is perfect for the role. She is hesitant at first but decides to do the show. Everything is going fine until Isabel overhears Jack talking with the producers about how well the plan was going and this is where the fun begins. The scorned witch unleashes hell on poor Jack in many embarrassing situations.

We are even treated to cameos by Aunt Clara (Carole Shelley) and Uncle Arthur (Steve Carell). I am not sure how Uncle Arthur fit into the story other than to get Carell to do some hilarious stuff but Aunt Clara is actually Isabel's Aunt Clara, meant to be a coincidence. The resemblance between Carole Shelley and the original Aunt Clara, Marion Lorne, was absolutely uncanny. I was convinced she was the original, right down to her voice.

Overall, if you do not shoot your expectations too high, this is a nice little comedy featuring Ferrell, with Nicole Kidman more than holding her own with him. Isabel was a lovable and cute character. Bewitched did have a few surprises and was worthy of watching. 7/10

Are a few good laughs worth wasting 100 minutes of time? For me, the answer is a resounding "No!" There are far more promising avenues to explore in the quest for laughter than the dead-end represented by Will Farrell's latest endeavor, Bewitched. Putting aside the juvenile humor (which is admittedly, albeit unevenly, funny), all that's left is a woefully underwritten motion picture. The last 30 minutes is so godawful that it almost sent me screaming from the theater.

When you consider that this film stars one of the most successful comedic actors of the past decade as well as a very cool premise revolving around a beloved old TV show, this could have been a much funnier movie. Instead, we're left with a handful of chuckles and not enough gas to cover the film's short runtime. We also get a butchering of that beloved old TV show. This thing tries to be too cute for it's own good. It's a film about a film about an old TV show called Bewitched. GACK. Just call it awful and be done with it.