FILM | Bewitched movie review | Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell.

The new Bewitched is kind of like … um, the old Bewitched.

If the old Bewitched had vaguely sucked or been inexplicably boring, that is.

At best, all I can say is that this movie is a snooze, which isn’t to say sitting through it’s impossible.

Bewitched is a little bit cute, a little bit funny, and refreshingly short (its one saving grace), but that’s pretty much all there is to it.

I like Nora Ephron. I wanted to like this movie, but it had none of the appeal of any of her previous efforts and I’m not sure why.

Ferrell plays Jack, an aging movie star whose last film tanked faster than Water World. As a result, he’s forced to star in the remake of a classic TV series (guess which one, geniuses).

Kidman is Isabel, a witch who just wants to be normal.

Though she’s not an actress, Jack wants Isabel for the role of Samantha. She can wiggle her nose, is a timid unknown, so he thinks she won’t steal the show, and most importantly, he thinks she’s kinda hot. Isabel thinks Jack’s hot too.

You know where this is going.

By my count, there are two obvious and major problems with Bewitched. The first is that it’s not remotely as funny as you’d hope it to be. Ferrell’s Jack/Darrin is exactly as expected, but the story isn’t wild enough to do him justice. The movie also fails to capture the charm of the original series, and without that, really, what is the point?

Bewitched tries hard to be a good date movie, it’s just not particularly magical.

2018: I screened the Bewitched movie on June 16, 2005. This review was published in Dose soon after and is shown below. I remember that I just really hated the film, but was told to tone it down. Dose was all about keeping advertisers happy, and anything “too negative” was axed. I didn’t want to hate this film. I really did love the original Bewitched TV series. Alas.  More movie pieces are here. Reviews in general are here.

Published in Dose, June 2005.