 Clearly the filmmakers behind Bewitched have bewitched a number of critics. A "surprisingly delightful rethink" is the way Jan Stuart describes it in Newsday. Glenn Whipp in the Los Angeles Daily News writes: "It might be going a bit far to use the word 'enchanting' when discussing Nora Ephron's frothy remake of the TV series Bewitched, but the movie is indisputably a cut above such rote efforts as The Honeymooners and Charlie's Angels Ephron's Bewitched actually contains ideas. Some work better than others, but there's enough originality and solid laughs here to call this a charmed effort." Nicole Kidman is receiving the kind of passionate praise for her performance in the movie that is usually reserved for actors appearing in "important" films. "It's pleasant just to watch Ms. Kidman float through the movie's sets like a visitor from another land," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times, adding, "She's as adorable as E.T., though her voice is as baby-breathy as that of Marilyn Monroe. ... The kittenish delivery adds a crucial softness, a sense of comfort, that doesn't come naturally to this actress." On the other hand, Ann Hornaday writes in the Washington Post: "Shocking as it is to say, Kidman -- who is usually a big part of what's right in her movies -- is a big part of what's wrong with Bewitched, which is a misfire in pretty much every other department, too." Lou Lumenick in the New York Post brands the movie as an "un-magical, unfunny and unromantic alleged comedy." And Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune concludes that the new Bewitched is "bothered and bewildered, an uninspired misfire of a TV-series knockoff that, despite its great cast and smart filmmakers, never manages to scare up much magic." |
