Spell check

Review by Vives Anunciacion

Bewitched
Directed by Nora Ephron
Written by Nora Eprhon, Delia Ephron
Starring Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell
G/ 102 minutes
Columbia Pictures
Opens Aug 10

In Nora Ephron’s latest comedy, award-winning actress Nicole Kidman plays a friendly witch trying to live a normal mortal’s life until a very famous mortal tricks her into living every mortal’s fantasy life – as an actress in a famous TV show. Bewitched is an example of how all of Hollywood’s star power isn’t enough to conjure a spectacle.

Actor Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrel, recently in Wedding Crashers) is looking for a publicity blitz to revive his waning fame. When network executives decide to remake the classic TV sitcom Bewitched, Wyatt is cast as the show’s unassuming husband Darren. What the production doesn’t realize is that the person they cast as Darren’s wife Samantha (Kidman, playing the innocent Isabel Bigelow), is in fact a real witch.

At first, Bigelow is just excited being able to find work in a normal, mortal environment. Plus she’s getting a weird interest in Wyatt. Little does she know that Wyatt is using her charms for the show’s ratings. With a few hexes and some help from friends, Wyatt and Bigelow eventually realize that they have more than just an on-screen relationship going on.

Bewitched is Kidman’s first romantic comedy and it’s obvious that she had fun making the movie. If Kidman can play light and bubbly, well, she’s luminous all right. It’s her second time to play a witch, which she last played in 1998’s Practical Magic, opposite Sandra Bullock.

Why on earth Kidman was paired with Ferrel, who’s practically in every comedy these days, is a mystery. No amount of Hollywood magic can brew a believable chemistry between the actors, who, in fairness, both do a great job in their own roles. On screen though, they just don’t look appealing together.

There’s a few instances of pure fun and magic – Shirley MacLaine’s appearance as Endora, Michael Caine’s cool and suave Nigel Bigelow reminiscent of the original Alfie. Kidman wiggling her little nose. Great music.

Surprisingly, Bewitched’s biggest blunder is it’s writing – the dialogue is just lame and the set-ups amateurish, almost obligatory. What makes this surprising is because it’s written and directed by the makers of Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail – by now celebrated epitomes of the romantic comedy genre. Bewitched simply hasn’t got enough story magic for its stars to work on, but it’s fun whenever Kidman and Ferrel aren’t together in a scene.

Sad but true.