Bedazzled (2000)

Best movie of this year hands down!

So much average

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This Harold Ramis movie is a remake of a 60's cult movie which I have never actually seen. It's based on the Faust legend where we have a terminally annoying man who is in love with a girl who works in the same office as him but who barely knows he exists. After a humiliating encounter with her he inadvertently casts up the devil who grants him seven wishes in his quest to win the girl over. The set-up in this one results in a film with a very episodic structure. With the central character wishing to be different in various ways which leads him to be reincarnated as a South American drug lord, a man intensely in touch with his sensitive side, a colossal basketball player, a respected writer, and the President of the USA. The fun comes from the fact that the devil has sneaked in a catch to every new persona and this inevitably leads to disasters for the central character and some hilarity for us. And that's the thing, it's actually a genuinely laugh out loud funny movie on several occasions, some standout moments being the over-sensitive man unable to avoid crying at a sunset or the half-witted giant basketball player who can't seem to string a sentence together without saying 'pretty good' while sweat literally pours from his head. Brendan Fraser is key to the comedy here. He puts in a genuinely good comic turn in a role that allows him to play a variety of characters with the help of some amusing make-up.So far so good. But I thought I would devote the whole final paragraph to the actual best thing about Bedazzled and that can be described in two words - Elizabeth Hurley. Honest to goodness, her performance as the devil is so incredibly seductive its bordering on being criminal. This astronomically gorgeous woman pops up throughout the course of the movie in an array of mind-bogglingly provocative costumes (proving conclusively that it isn't just gay men who can appreciate excessive costume changes). Hurley puts in an extremely sexy performance without stripping off at all which was quite an achievement all things considered. I really like girls with English accents and Hurley's posh voice was simply the icing on this particular cake for yours truly. She isn't a gifted actress but she does all right with comedy roles and this one, needless to say, suits her down to a tee in every conceivable way. Despite its other good qualities, if you made the decision to watch this film for the sole reason of watching our Liz in full throttle, I would understand.

A mindless and hilariously flawed movie that can entertain you for the night, and through to the early morning (if you survive that long watching this). Brendan Fraser overacts, as he usually does, but in a way that really fits his character, and Elizabeth Hurley plays a very hot Devil as best as can be played. This film suffers from an awkward pace, very questionable and cheap effects, and a weak script. I can appreciate the protagonist's arch, but the other factors of the film don't bring anything redeemable or worthwhile enough to take time to invest into the character. They did, however, bring the movie down, like a ship sinking slowly beneath the surface.

Well, I start this reviewing saying how much I enjoyed this movie. "Bedazzled" has a very original story, in which a loser signs a contract with the devil in order to gain 7 wishes-- that are actually a curse in disguise. One thing to congratulate is the extremely professional way that Brandan Fraser portrays some characters; an actor needs to be very careful to perform such imitation. At some points I thought the story would go into a creepy stuff, and happily it didn't-- that wasn't the point of the movie afterall. It's also great that writers didn't appeal to any religion or lack of religion, allowing every kind of spectator enjoy this without feeling insulted. Moreover, it doesn't have any moral lesson to leave the spectator feeling cheesy. Great movie, indeed!

I kind of like the premise here. Usually movies are bound by their basic settings. If the movie starts with certain characters and tones, chances are that those basic building blocks will not change all that much throughout the course of the movie. Which is why I love adventure films so much as they're usually full of exotic locations, ever-changing situations and there's always something new to marvel at.The same principle applies here. The seven wishes granted to Elliot (Brendan Fraser) allow him to go through many different scenarios and locations, from Columbia to the 19th century America. The problem is that some of these scenarios brought by the wishes are not that creative and usually depend on a singular joke to be made. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. The first few wishes and the various problems that occur are pretty funny to follow and I found myself chuckling from time to time, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly. The scenarios don't repeat themselves that much, but when you know that Elliot still has wishes left to be used, you can pretty much expect that something will go wrong with the first six, which kills the excitement. All that is left is the wonderment of how the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) will screw up this particular wish for Elliot. Though admittedly the last few wishes manage to dust off the formula to a certain degree, but I still feel that the writers could have been a bit more creative. Of course this is a remake, but they already changed some things, like the gender of the Devil, so why not go a bit further.On the technical side of things, the three main actors (Fraser, Hurley and O'Connor) play their roles pretty convincingly and I enjoyed their performances. They weren't anything spectacular, but the comedic timing was there and I especially enjoyed Hurley's portrayal of the Devil as a vindictive, petty and mean-spirited, yet surprisingly sympathetic character. She was evil, sure, but the malice just wasn't there. It's her job to be evil, so she is. Strange take on the classic character, but for the purposes of the film, it actually worked quite well.Final thoughts: I cannot really find it in me to call this movie bad, though the rating I'll give it is quite low, mainly because it's just so cheesy and doesn't really explore its possibilities. It's still enjoyable if all you're looking for are some cheap laughs and a way to spend an hour and a half.