Rating of
2/4
Imaginative retelling, but not real funny
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/03/08
Movie actor "Jack Wyatt" (Will Ferrell) has come up with what he thinks is a brilliant idea to salvage his career after his last three movies bombed at the Box Office. He wants to remake the classic American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) television series "Bewitched" with him as "Darrin" and an unknown in the role of "Samantha" so that he might steal the spotlight from her.
One day, he sees a very pretty woman (Nicole Kidman) who looks much like the late "Bewitched" star, Elizabeth Montgomery and convinces her to join the cast of the new version of the television series.
The woman, "Isabel Bigelow" (Kidman), has a secret however. She is a real-life witch who wants to live the life of a mortal, much like "Samantha" did in the original television series. Her father (Michael Caine), who absolutely adores his daughter, tries to convince her that living the life of a mortal is the wrong idea. Her life even has others people in it who mirror not only mirrors the characters from the television series.
There are a lot of references to the original series. Many of the most memorable characters appear. Caine is near perfect as "Bigelow's" father and you can sense that he has made the father adore his daughter, much like the same character in the movie. Though she is not playing the same character, McClaine is pretty good as actress "Iris Smython" who plays the TV show's character "Endora". McClaine is pretty much a mirror image of the late Agnes Moorehead, who portrayed "Endora" in the television series. She has the hair color and the flamboyant clothing as "Endora", but she didn't really have the same personality. She was more like "Wyatt" in that she liked to be in the spotlight, as evident in her response to applause while filming an episode.
One performance I really was not impressed with for a character from the original television series was Steve Carell as "Uncle Arthur". This performance, more than others, was an impersonation of the original actor. Carell copied Paul Lynde (who played the character in the TV series) almost to the letter. He did a poor attempt at copying Lynde's facial mannerisms, but did a pretty good impersonation of Lynde. One that really stood out was
When it comes to jokes, many are in homage to the original television series (some are better hidden than others that fans of the series should be able to pick up). For the most part, the laughs were stuck at the beginning of the movie and died out near the middle. I didn't laugh during the final half of the film. One problem was Ferrell when he tries to be over-the-top. I feel as if he tries to hard when he has to be over-the-top, and fails to bring in the laughs. Carell also failed to bring in the laughs to me, only because I felt he was trying to do a Paul Lynde impersonation. Like I said earlier, many of the jokes will only make sense if you have seen some episodes of the television series.
I would say that if you happen upon it when it airs on HBO or another movie network, I would say check it out if nothing else is on. I just can't say it would be a good rental.
Kidman and Ferrell are a pretty good on-screen duo. Kidman, who appears to be a little bit an airhead, does a pretty good job as the straight woman to the comedic Ferrell. Kidman was real good when she allowed her character to be her witchy self as that is the true nature of the character's personality. Even though I do not like Ferrell when he tries to be over-the-top to get some laughs, he was pretty good as the ego-maniac "Wyatt".
Like in other movies I have seen as of late, supporting characters were not developed well in my opinion. The ones who came from the television series aren't developed at all because they should be known by the audience already.
