Movie Review: Bewitched (2005)

Bewitched (2005)
Columbia Pictures Corporation, Red Wagon Entertainment USA, 2005.

Based on the 1960s-1970s sitcom with the same name.

This is the second film where Nicole Kidman plays a witch. This time she is Isabel Bigelow who moves to San Fernando Valley to find a husband. Meanwhile hopeless movie star Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) needs a big hit or else he becomes a has-been. The studio is filming a remake of "Bewitched" and they need someone to play Samantha. Isabel has a nose for the job so she gets the job. In the series Jack will play her husband Darrin and Iris Smythson (Shirley MacLaine) plays her mother. 

Isabel Bigelow

Jack Wyatt

However Jack is in the middle of divorce and career crisis and desperate to boost his career with the series so he tries to take the credit all for himself. It breaks Isabel's heart. So Isabel, Aunt Clara (Carole Shelley) and two non-witch friends Maria (Kristin Chenoweth) and Nina (Heather Burns) cast spells to teach humility to Jack. The spells cause a mess so the best way for Isabel is to try using non-magical means to put Jack into his place.

Maria and Nina

The original "Bewitched" is a series I have wanted to see but I never have had a chance to see although some episodes were shown in Finnish television sometimes in early 2000s. This is not a remake but rather a meta-level interpretation that has something in common with "Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt" where the roles and reality were also amusingly mixed. Many of the fans expecting a reboot of the original show were disappointed. However the story does tribute to the original series.

In "Practical Magic" Kidman was a flirty witch, here she is an innocent witch. Hilarity ensues as Isabel tries to learn living among normal people and using home appliances. Will Ferrell does reliable job again as a pompous star. He seems to have some improvised scenes as often is his style. Storywise it goes as romantic comedies usually go but has a nice retro-feeling as in 50s- or 60s-comedies. It is often quite silly film, but good natured, cute and cheery.

Michael Caine appears as Isabel's dad Nigel who appears when you least expect him and Steve Carell as Uncle Arthur.

Nigel

Rating: Good

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Jason Schwartzman, Kristin Chenoweth, Heather Burns, Jim Turner, Stephen Colbert, David Alan Grier, Michael Badalucco, Carole Shelley, Steve Carell, Katie Finneran, James Lipton, Conan O'Brien, Amy Sedaris, Richard Kind, Ken Hudson Campbell, P.J. Byrne, Carole Androsky, Annie Mumolo, Andrew Friedman, Clay Bravo, Heather Maristella, Jonathan T. Floyd, Ed McMahon, Alison MacInnis, Bridget Brno, Dana Daurey, Dorie Barton, Katie Carroll, Jennifer Elise Cox, Laura Sorenson, Brittany Krall, Dawn Ashley Cook, Julia Decker, Abbey McBride, Jennifer Hall, Roxanne Beckford, Hugh Davidson, Joe Zymblosky, J.J. Sacha, Susan Chuang, Jordan Black, Mo Rocca, Jason George, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Julie Claire, TL Savage, Dianne Dreyer, Kate Walsh, Valerie Azlynn, Jarrad Paul, Victor Williams, Liesel Staubitz, Ruby Rose Skotchdopole, Molly Gordon, Nick Lachey 

Director: Nora Ephron