The Witch Is Back

By Richard Schickel

Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of Nicole Kidman's nose. First she donned about 5 lbs. of proboscis prosthetics to more closely resemble Virginia Woolf in The Hours. Now she's learned to make it wrinkle and twinkle the way Elizabeth Montgomery did on Bewitched some 40 years ago. It's cute for a while, then wearisome.

Much the same could be said of Nora Ephron's movie. It has a good premise: down-on-his-luck movie actor Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) agrees to do a remake of the old TV show (1964-72) but casts an unknown to play Samantha so he, playing her husband Darrin, can dominate the program. The role goes to Isabel Bigelow (Kidman), who really is a witch, although she's trying to break the habit. But you can't make a laff riot out of what is essentially a straight man's role, and Jack bombs. Even the family dog scores higher approval ratings with the test audience. And inevitably, the movie becomes less of a domestic comedy and more of a show-biz one.

But something misses here. Maybe funny witches are just too retro. Maybe the lack of chemistry between Kidman and Ferrell has something to do with it. Ferrell, in particular, doesn't seem to want to be as edgy--all right, insanely self-involved--as he might be. And, it seems, Ephron (who co-wrote the script with her sister Delia) also wants everyone to make nice. Whatever air the picture has goes whooshing out of it when the stars do a romantic dance. It's reminiscent of Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in a similar setting in Singin' in the Rain. Except these stars can't dance--not romantically, soaringly, anyway--and although one applauds Ephron's romantic impulse, it is one about which she might have thought twice.

Bewitched means to be a civilized entertainment, which occasionally it is. But the gentility of this antique sitcom cannot be recaptured at this late date. What this revival needs is a good kick in the pants. And that Ephron and friends lack the low cunning to deliver. --By Richard Schickel