Susan Granger’s review of “Bewitched” (Columbia/Sony)
Look who’s twitching now! Nicole Kidman is certainly bewitching, even if the movie isn’t. It’s writer/director/producer Nora Ephron’s (“Sleepless in Seattle”) backstage tale about the re-making of the old Elizabeth Montgomery TV series. Determined to cast the nose-wiggling role of Samantha with an unknown, egocentric actor Josh Wyatt (Darren), whose career is on a downward slide, inadvertently discovers a shy, bumbling, real-life witch, Isabel Bigelow (Kidman), who yearns to find a mortal man to “need” her. Of course, with a snap of her fingers or a tug on her ear, that could happen, but she’s determined to be “normal.” And so it goes. As the formulaic, romantic comedy plot unfolds, the message is clear: all the magic in the world is no match for true love. It’s the stuff of which good “chick flicks” are made. While Nicole Kidman’s an ethereal, deft comedienne, her most remarkable wizardry is appearing to be a giddy, giggling twentysomething when she’s actually 38. What’s her secret? As her father, Michael Caine is also enchanting, conjuring an umbrella when it rains and embodying not only the Gorton Fish Sticks guy in the yellow slicker but also the Jolly Green Giant and the smiling logo on Newman’s Own. The same cannot be said of deadpan comedian Will Ferrell, whose mugging and over-acting has become downright tedious; he plays ‘shallow’ all too convincingly. In supporting roles, Shirley MacLaine, Carole Shelley and Kristin Chenoweth sparkle, as does the soundtrack with the updated theme song by Pfeifer Broz and new “nose twinkles.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bewitched” is a cute, lightly trifling 6. After all, as Michael Caine says, “Every woman wants to be a witch.”
