Director: Harold Ramis
Writer: Larry Gelbart, Harold Ramis, Peter Tolan (Screenplay) Peter Cook, Dudley Moore (Original Screenplay)
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley, Frances O’Connor, Miriam Shor, Orlando Jones, Paul Adelstein
Plot: Hopeless dweeb Elliot Richards is granted seven wishes by the Devil to snare Allison, the girl of his dreams, in exchange for his soul.
Tagline – Meet the devil. No one’s ever been able to resist her. Until now.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Enjoyable Comedy
Story: Bedazzled starts with Elliot (Fraser) a good natured young man that is lonely in his life, while his co-workers not liking him, he is in love with another co-worker Alison (O’Connor) but doesn’t have the courage to talk to her. Showing his desire to be with Alison it attracts the Devil (Hurley).
Elliot takes up the offer and goes about trying to find the perfect wish to make him happy taking him all over the world and through different scenarios.
Thoughts on Bedazzled
Characters – Elliot is the lonely leading man, his personality has pushed his co-workers away from him as they just want to avoid him. He meets the Devil who offers him seven wishes to fix his life and get the girl of his dreams Alison. His wishes take him into a string of different lives that his current life could never see him in. The Devil is here to help give Elliot wishes, she plays on his worlds to make each have a game breaking flaw, while pushing him into different direction, looking sexy along the way. Alison is the woman that Elliot loves, she works with him at a higher level. She doesn’t notice him, we don’t learn much about the real Alison as we see her in the different wishes.
Performances – Brendan Fraser was bursting into the spotlight around the release of this film, he gets to show the comedy skills he has through this film which is fun and enjoyable to watch. Elizabeth Hurley is great in this role, she brings us the sexy seductress the film wants the devil to be. Frances O’Connor does well with what she gets with all the different versions of Alison she is left to play.
Story – The story follows one man that doesn’t fit in everyday life, he is tired of being alone and wishes for his life to change, bring him into a deal with the Devil. We see how Elliot must learn to make the correct decisions in his life rather than just wish for a quick fix to his own life. This does have meaning and is a remake of a popular film, which could turn fans of the original off, but this is a good modern telling of the story.
Comedy/Fantasy – The comedy through the film does have good moments, most of these come from the different wishes that Elliot goes through. The fantasy ideas come from the devil giving out the wishes.
Settings – Most of the film is set in San Francisco giving us another big American City which helps for people to understand where we are, we do get other settings which look correct for the wishes.
Special Effects – Most of the effects work for this film, we mostly see them when we jump between wishes.
Scene of the Movie – Moving on.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Some of the wishes feel cartoonish.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun comedy that hits more than it misses, we see Fraser at his best and Hurley looks as sexy as we know she can do.
Overall: Comedy that can be enjoyable by a modern audience.
Rating
