Bedazzled

“Bedazzled” is a remake of the 1967 Peter Cook/Dudley Moore film of the same name. Having never seen the original, I can’t really comment on how faithful this retread is. However, if I had to guess, my answer would be “not at all”. The plot follows Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser), a doormat tech support geek with no apparent social skill. He admires his co-worker Alison (Frances O’Connor) from afar and would do anything to be with her. His wish is answered by The Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) who will grant him seven wishes in exchange for his soul. The story itself isn’t bad. There are some great ideas on display here. I love all the different versions of Elliot in the wishes- very well done. Brendan Fraser proves that he has a natural knack for comedy and I don’t know why he isn’t in more as he is a great comedy character actor and has good comic timing. Liz Hurley is pretty one-dimensional as The Devil, but when she’s as sexy as this- who the Hell cares? Good God, if the Devil looked like that I’d sell my soul faster than you could say “schoolgirl outfit”.

I couldn’t help but enjoy “Bedazzled”. Yes, it was predictable and as deep as a papercut from a Post-It note, but still- it had some nice gags and didn’t suffer from any pacing issues. I suppose if anything it’s like a mix between “Groundhog Day”(which makes sense as both films are directed by Harold “Egon from Ghostbusters” Ramis) and the schoolyard “Corrupted Wish game” (i.e. You wish for a lifetime’s supply of cheese, but you are lactose intolerant). I actually giggled quite a bit when Elliot wishes he was more sensitive and ends up as an insufferable wimp, weeping at sunset and breaking out into improvised sonnets about Alison’s hair.

The ending is a bit of a cop out, to be honest. I was all ready to applaud the film for having Elliot not hook up with Alison at the end, as it seemed like a brave thing to do. However, Elliot goes home to find that his new neighbour looks exactly like Alison and is into all the nerdy stuff he is. Oh dear. Plus, we see a new side to Elliot when he stands up to his co-workers. This doesn’t really make sense however, because Elliot didn’t really learn a lesson from all the wishing. It made sense when Bill Murray’s character in “Groundhog Day” changed due to the fact that we saw why, whereas Elliot’s new found chutzpah seems to come from nowhere.

Still, “Bedazzled” is enjoyable enough and is much sharper than you may first give it credit for.