accessAtlanta

'Bewitched' casts a sappy spell

The big joke in "Bewitched," the movie, is that a fictional studio has decided to take "Bewitched," the old TV series about a witch married to a mortal, and retool it to focus on the witch's duller-than-dirt husband, Darren.

Columbia Pictures 'Bewitched' 2 out of 5 stars Director: Nora Ephron Starring: Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine Run time: 105 minutes Release date: June 24, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for some language, including sex and drug references, and partial nudity. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Bewitched"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results Columbia Pictures

That's a pretty funny gag. It's funnier (and now we're talking a sad kind of funny) when you realize that the only thing close to magic in this movie is indeed Darren's doing — and that the film's producers drop the ball, focusing instead on unfunny spellcasters and lifeless romance.

Sure, star Nicole Kidman can wiggle her nose and is as cute as the original Samantha, Elizabeth Montgomery. But where Montgomery was mischievous and sympathetic, Kidman is suffering a hangover from her last remake, "The Stepford Wives": She's a robot, all perkiness and no soul.

Not that co-writer and director Nora Ephron requires much soul from her cast. She prefers to take an intriguing premise and squeeze it into the romantic-comedy mold that earned her millions with "You've Got Mail" and "Sleepless in Seattle." Instead of milking the scenario for laughs, she drops it halfway through in favor of generic courtship montages and the old fight/reunite routine. If the tale's third act isn't disappointing enough, she brings in Steve Carell (such a reliable performer on "The Daily Show") to do a gratingly awkward impersonation of the original series' Paul Lynde.

"Bewitched" owes its few laughs to Will Ferrell, who finds opportunities to reuse gags that have worked for him in the past: When Kidman's witch casts a spell to make him flub his line readings, Ferrell cycles through old "Saturday Night Live" voices; when she makes him fall in love with her, the actor revisits the hyperbolic enthusiasm of "Elf."

But the spells fizzle when the movie shifts gears from prankster meta-comedy to rote Rom-Com. Ephron seems oblivious to the complete lack of chemistry between her leads; and supporting cast members like Shirley MacLaine and Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, instead of saving the day with scene-stealing zingers, just add to the dead air. Hollywood's recent affection for remakes of vintage TV shows has looked like a dead end for a while now; "Bewitched" is a sign that the Ephron-style romantic comedy has grown pretty stale as well.