Elizabeth Montgomery never won an Academy Award, but as Samantha Stevens on the classic TV show "Bewitched," she made every little boy in America want to grow up to marry a beautiful witch, and every little girl want to grow up and be one.
Nicole Kidman has an Oscar. Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine, co-stars in the movie remake of "Bewitched" each have two.
But despite her considerable acting chops and beauty, Kidman can't reach audiences as pretty young witch Isabella Bigelow the way that Elizabeth Montgomery reached us some 40 years ago.
Witch Wants to Be Normal, Marry a Mortal
The story line of the movie mimics the basic premise of the television series. Pretty young witch longs to be normal, to feel love, to experience life as a "normal" person, including marriage and its related trials.
Will Ferrell makes no attempt to re-create the bewitched Darrin Stevens as Dick York so comically played him (apologies to Dick Sargent, but York is the only Darren for this reviewer). Instead, Ferrell plays movie idol Jack Wyatt, who has suffered a string of box office bombs, and starring in a hit television series remake is perhaps his last chance to stay on the public's entertainment radar.
Ferrell as Wyatt decides that an unknown, fresh face should play Samantha -- mainly so he won't be upstaged or marked a "second bananna" to the more significant character.
I enjoy Ferrell on many levels, he's a first-rate comic and he's fun to watch. But Ferrell's fans, both my age and my young nephews ages, have other vehicles, like Saturday Night Live and "Old School" where we probably would enjoy him more than in this movie.
The path Ferrell and Kidman take to discovering that they're in love occurs mostly as they work together on the television series, even though the end result is the same.
Why We Loved the Original Darren and Samantha
Again, Kidman is a world-class actor. But in the Samantha role, she captures few of the qualities Montgomery had in the parallel role -- intelligence, warmth, fun, approchability, and ability to blend easily into the "mortal" world.
Kidman's witch is more of an airhead with a slightly sinister side. Instead of Montgomery's gracious, Blonde Jackie Kennedy style, we get a slightly ditzy eccentric who has a taste for odd vintage clothing and an overabundance of shabby chic in her cute little Hollywood cottage.
All of her friends -- and you aren't really sure if she actually has any -- are either annoying and chirpy like Maria (Kristin Chenowith) -- or they are simply props that blend into the set. Chenowith attempts to be an entertaining sidekick, but she's mostly just an unwelcome distraction.
As Samantha, Montgomery could be totally believable as a mortal because she interacted with other cast members like Mrs. Kravitz, Darren's parents, Larry and Louise Tate she was as human as they were. Kidman is unable to convey the same feeling.
Jim Carrey, Where WERE You?
In a review of "The Majestic" I wrote here some three years ago, I said "Jim Carrey was born to play Darren Stevens." I still feel that way, and this movie should not have been made until he was ready to accept the Darren role.
I did read that he was offered the part, but turned it down. They should either have persuaded him, or scrapped the project until he was ready,
Carrey could have given us a Darren that would have made this movie a thousand times better. Kidman would undoubtedly picked up some of that energy, and to her benefit.
Ferrell's facial expressions and reactions are satisfying as always, but he ain't Darren. Jim Carrey is Darren.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
Caine and MacLaine
Michael Caine is charming and elegant and amusing as Isabella's father. Like Samantha's father, the giant martini swilling, cape wearing Maurice, Caine as Nigel Bigelow provides the right amount of color and connection to the television series.
As Endora, Shirley MacLaine does the same. She's clearly having fun in the Agnes Morehead role, and gives it her own accents of feistyness, cattiness, but also no small amount of sex appeal. In one scene, Shirley shows off her still glorious legs, reminding the audience of the skilled dancer she was in her youth.
A few of the old television characters like Aunt Clara and Uncle Arthur, played by relatively unknown Carole Shelley and Steve Carell, helped interject some much needed spark into this movie.
Despite all the significant efforts of heavy-hitters like screenwriter/director Nora Ephron, Kidman, Caine and MacLaine, this movie left "Bewitched" original fans like myself feeling a little cheated, longing for the simpler magic of William Asher, Sol Saks, Dick York, and feeling a powerful urge to find some reruns on Nick-at-Night to see Montogmery again.
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