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Bewitched (2005)

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From Time Out London

Nora Ephron’s scripts (‘When Harry Met Sally…’, etc) have never fought shy of formula: a guy and a gal squabble, fall in love, fall out and are reunited. The pattern is so established, the behaviour so rote that the characters might as well be under a spell – an idea that finds its logical extension in ‘Bewitched’, a post-modern update of the ’60s sitcom that shows an intriguing awareness of this overlap without quite knowing what to do with it. Real-life witch Isabel (a pixie-ish Nicole Kidman) decides to forsake magic and find herself a normal man. In fact, she gets foundering Hollywood star Jack (Will Ferrell, cod-pompous and pratfall-laden), who casts her as ‘Samantha’ to his ‘Darrin’ in a TV remake of ‘Bewitched’ – the show about a witch who forsakes magic to find herself a normal man. Each used to having every whim granted with a click of their fingers, Isabel and Jack now have professional rivalry and love hexes to contend with, and their ensuing romance plays out as a garbled power struggle, with a distinctly reactionary undertow: having abdicated her own powers, Isabel is reduced to infantile gurgling at the wonder of dimmer switches and slavish pursuit of domesticated co-dependence. The film constantly equates magic with Hollywood entertainment – Isabel even undoes spells by rewinding the world video-style – and blithely substitutes both for actual love: romantic montages play out under the influence of spells and Isabel and Jack’s courtship is mapped on to that of their characters (their ‘happy place’ is the show’s mock-up home). But drawing attention to the similarities between two unnatural modes of behaviour has doubly alienating results: who could care about two experts in artifice playing out an over-familiar story? For despite the intriguing set-up, formula proves as hard a habit for Ephron to kick as magic is for Isabel.

Author: BW

Time Out London Issue 1826: August 15-24 2005

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