A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Bewitched

Date Viewed: 6/25/05

Details:

Nicole Kidman

Will Ferrell

Shirley MacLaine

Michael Caine

Written & directed by: Nora Ephron

Score: 1/2

The Review: The surprise is, it doesn't suck; the problem is, it's not great.

Those two observations are rooted in the behavior of the two stars, Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman (respectively). The excesses of Ferrell are seldom to my taste; the presence of Kidman usually is. While this is not great cinema, it is a clever reworking of the Bewitched concept. Instead of a (potentially unimaginative) remake of a (1960's) TV show as a movie, it becomes a movie about an attempt to do a TV remake, based on the less than stellar star-power of a has-been actor (Ferrell, whose character is stupid enough to voluntarily play Darren, who was replaced after the first TV season and virtually nobody noticed), an over-the-hill actress (MacLaine, as Endorra) who may be a witch, and a totally unknown (Kidman, as Samantha) who definitely is.

Good turn by Michael Caine as Samantha's father, and some cute special effects to put his face in some unusual locations.

(9-Jul-05)

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