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Film review

Less than bewitching

Bewitched, the new film based on the old television sitcom, twitches its intentions too often to cast the spell of the original.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published June 23, 2005

[Sony Pictures]

From left, Nicole Kidman, Shirley MacLaine and Will Ferrell star in Bewitched.

	A toast to TV's 'Bewitched' A twitch of the nose and Samantha had TV audiences spellbound in the '60s, when the cocktail hour reigned.
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Nora Ephron's version of Bewitched will leave fans of the 1960s sitcom bothered and bewildered. The movie takes an entirely different approach to remaking a familiar TV show, but winds up more disappointing than most of the other retreads out there.

Ephron decided to avoid replicating the series that starred Elizabeth Montgomery as a suburban housewife who is also a witch. Instead, she sets up a sitcom within a movie, with a fading actor attempting to revitalize his career by starring in an updated TV version of Bewitched, co-starring an actor who's actually a witch. So far, so clever.

Based on that outline, Ephron can take the story in numerous directions. The problem is that she tries them all, creating a herky-jerky comic rhythm that, coupled with a tepid screenplay, gives viewers few reasons to laugh. Everything gets so removed from the source that Bewitched could be titled anything else and few would notice the resemblance. Imitation would certainly be more flattering.

Nicole Kidman plays wispy Isabel Bigelow, who's ready to give up practicing magic, as opposed to Montgomery's character, who chose to give up casting spells when she married Darrin Stephens. Neither can resist breaking their vows of mortality when a situation needs a boost in the right direction. For Isabel, it's a material thing, such as using a tarot card to pay a furnishing bill for a home she nose-twitched her way into. Samantha just wanted her home to run smoothly. Sweetness has turned cynical, and that's just the beginning.

Will Ferrell plays Jack Wyatt, the self-centered star of several movie flops (not counting this one). The film treats a move to television as if it were exile to Siberia; Ephron doesn't even respect the medium from which her inspiration came. Jack demands that the show's focus be on Darrin, so he wants someone easy to upstage for the Samantha role. One look at Isabel's nose, plus a few seconds of Kidman's bland personality, convinces him that Isabel should get the role.

This is when Ephron and her co-writers start tinkering too much. There's a hint of making Bewitched a satire of television that can be saved only by magic, but that goes nowhere. Jack could be a lout throughout and get his comeuppance, but that idea is abandoned when Isabel turns him into a fawning admirer. Jack could learn about Isabel's powers and reshape his career. No luck there, either. Even the inevitable romance lacks sparks. Finally, Ephron proves her desperation by resorting to the imitation she wanted to avoid, bringing in Steve Carell (The Office, The Daily Show) to mimic the late Paul Lynde as Isabel/Samantha's wacky Uncle Arthur.

That Carell is the funniest thing about Bewitched says a lot about Ephron's failed ambition.

Jim Carrey had the right idea when he found something better to do than play Jack, a role tailored to his manic reactions and his close resemblance to the first Darrin, Dick York. The role fell to Ferrell, who's at a point in his career when he can afford to be choosier. He toils hard to make something of a troublesome script, but shouting and doubletakes go only so far.

Two plum casting choices are wasted. Michael Caine's suave wit is fine for Isabel's warlock father, and Shirley MacLaine is a great choice to play the acerbic mother-in-law Endora. But she isn't really playing Endora; instead, she's Iris Smythson, the actor playing Endora on the sitcom. Therefore, MacLaine's character doesn't have any legitimate reason to torment Jack/Darrin, or verbally spar with Nigel, who should be her ex-husband. Those were some of the best moments on the original sitcom, but they are ignored here.

Ephron's creative indecisions leave us puzzled: Iris is shown to briefly possess real witchcraft abilities, which then disappear. Isabel's chirpy neighbor (Kristin Chenoweth) thinks Jack's agent (Jason Schwartzman) is cute, and they share a brief glance before that incidental romance is forgotten. The closest things to jokes are too inside Hollywood, while the simpler stuff feels stale. Samantha's nose would need to work overtime to clean up this mess.

Grade: D

Director: Nora Ephron

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine, Kristin Chenoweth, Jason Schwartzman, Steve Carell

Screenplay: Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron, Adam McKay

Rating: PG-13; profanity, sex and drug references, partial nudity

Running time: 102 min.

[Last modified June 22, 2005, 10:44:04]