Bewitched
Director: Nora Ephron
(PG-13, 102 min.)
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine
Sometimes, out of habit, you end up doing something you know you may regret in the end. Like seeing the three most recent Star Wars movies, for example. In that case, my instinct was right, yet I neglected to follow it.
I can say the same for Bewitched. My instinct told me Will Ferrell playing a man, who plays a man in a TV series was just too normal for an actor who has thrived off of out-there roles like a six-foot-four elf (Elf, 2003).
Leery of missing out on a performance that could rival the hilarity of A Night at the Roxbury (1998) or his regular Saturday Night Live performances, I went anyways. I should have trusted my gut.
Thankfully, Bewitched was not just about Ferrell. Nicole Kidman managed to salvage some of the movie's respectability with her portrayal of Isabele, a real witch who wins the legendary role of Samantha, the housewife-witch in a revival of the 1960s TV series Bewitched.
Unfortunately, Kidman's role is about as dimensional as a kindergartner's finger painting, leaving her little room to separate her character from Samantha.
That is not to say Bewitched is all bad - it's certainly not without its funny moments. The problem is that the film is too focused, too grounded. Rarely is Ferrell let off his leash, when most moviegoers would agree he is at his best.
The times when Ferrell is allowed to go off on his trademark tangents are undeniably funny, but too few and far between.
It's hard to believe that Delia (director/writer) and Nora Ephron (writer) did not take full advantage of an equation involving Will Ferrell and magic. The possibilities were endless, the results forgettable. Hopefully this movie teaches Hollywood a lesson - if you are going to take your 'comedy' movie as serious as Bewitched, leave Will Ferrell at home.
