Date:02/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/02/stories/2005100217510200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

This recycled magic may not cast a spell on you

SEE MAGIC? Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in `Bewitched'

Bewitched (English)

Director: Nora Ephron

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine

"Bewitched" was a well-known American TV serial that ran from 1964 to 1972 and was dusted in recent months for Indian audiences of cable channels. It featured Elizabeth Montgomery as the teenaged witch Samantha whose magical powers were the stuff of mindless but harmless comedy. Nora Ephron has done better films than this — "You've Got Mail" and "Sleepless in Seattle" — and she possibly couldn't get Tom Hanks this time. Which is why she has to settle for Will Ferrell (you are excused if you say "Will who?") to play a fading movie star who wants to revive his sagging career with a remake of "Bewitched".

To play the witch, he picks on Isabel Bigelow (Kidman) on the premise that since she twitches her nose in the exact manner patented by the original 1960s witch, the rest of her will serve. What he doesn't know is that Isabel is really a witch — and over the objections of her dad (Caine) she falls for Will and decides that she wants to lead a normal life with him. It's all hokum of the highest order and unless you were a fan of the TV serial, the big screen "Bewitched" is unlikely to cast its spell over you.

ANAND PARTHASARATHY