Bewitched opens with some elaborate and unnecessary set-piecing: Nicole Kidman breathlessly introduces herself as Isabel, a kooky witch intent on normality despite the condemnation of her playboy father (quirkily played by a stalwart Michael Caine). A twitch of the nose allows Isabel to create her ideal world without consequence, but her flower-child attitude soon wears thin – perhaps due to a certain weariness on the part of Kidman. A girl in every sense, Isabel should have been played by a wide-eyed doe actress, rather than wasting the seasoned excellence of such a thespian on such a badly expanded role. Sadly, Kidman is tired and irritating in the character; Isabel is dull and unmoving and, try though she might, Kidman cannot pull the bland script and tired tale from the dredge of utter boredom it has imbedded itself in.

Nora Ephron is generally notorious for directing staggeringly average fodder of the 'chick-flick' variety, and taking on the tornado that is Will Ferrell seemed like the least obvious choice for such a safe-stepper. A whirling dervish of comedic impulsiveness, Ferrell can only be controlled by dint of extreme care and concentration; neither given excessive space to play, nor reeled in too tightly. He works in part because of the inherent 'Ferrell-ness' that has made his previous ventures so hilarious: Anchorman would not have been half the film were it not for his manic explosions, and bit parts in Old School, Zoolander and Wedding Crashers made comic-maybes into comic-masterpieces. He rescues the movie from utter monotony, performing a good service for Nicole Kidman: distracting from her inability to 'do' comedy, and lightening the load of a weak script.

Ephron's direction lands itself squarely in the category of ignorable: bright colours, fantasy lighting, and a feel-good world where nothing bad impeaches on the happiness of her characters. Bland and thoughtless though it is, the story could have been rescued by a knowing, self-referential script. Instead the writing borders on sickening nostalgia (Ephron having a hand in that too), lamenting the America of yesteryear, without actually representing any 'time' at all. Genuinely funny moments are fitful and sporadic. Without the bullet-like precision of Ferrell, laughs would have been out the question – and even he grates on the nerves at times. Rather than work on controlling Ferrell to the degree where he is comprehensible, Ephron seemed to give him full reign, allowing him to exaggerate and overemphasise every emotion while maintaining a comedic shtick that belies any seriousness. His character therefore borders on the unrealistic and overblown, a fault sadly apparent in other screen outings, as Kicking & Screaming demonstrated so aptly.

Rather than amazing the audience with Ferrell's energy, Ephron would have been better served allowing him to expand the script with his insight into what actually makes people laugh. Isabel's character would have benefited from some life and sympathy injected by Kidman; her performance in Dogville proved that the strangest of characters can be dealt with lovingly in the hands of such an actress, but perhaps the dismal script didn't allow much movement. As it stands, the movie struggles with any real connection, and comes across as a mish-mash of TV moments squashed together to make up the time. The story is nonsensical and infuriatingly pointless; the characters are wooden and badly formed; the script alternately grates and bores.

All in all, Bewitched manages to be a thoroughly missable movie… one that may not even be destined for DVD success, owing to the bad word of mouth that is sure to follow viewings. It was a well-conceived idea, coupling nostalgia with a bit of modern day wink-wink-nudge-nudge, and brings a much-loved television series to the big screen. It fails, however, in its overall aspirations to appeal, and stumbles massively in its efforts at comedic brilliance. In the end, Bewitched amounts to a dull and unfunny attempt at light viewing: not enough entertainment to be a comedy, and not sickly-sweet enough to be a romance.

Rated PG (see IFCO website for details)
Bewitched is released on 19th August 2005.
Bewitched – Official website