BEFORE: From stone-cold crazy killer to Jack playing the Devil himself...
THE PLOT: Three single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted - at a cost - when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.
AFTER: Well, I didn't really see the point of this film at all. It was sort of all over the place, as if it couldn't decide on a decent plot or even a direction to go in. Was this an attempt to satirize witchcraft, the God/Devil dynamic, or religion in small-town America? Even by asking the question, I think I'm giving the movie too much credit.
The idea is that these three women "conjure" up the perfect man - who isn't really perfect at all, because how can the devil be considered perfect? But the women aren't really "witches", at least not at first - they only take up witchcraft late in the film to try and get rid of the Devil. So how did they call on the devil to appear, if they weren't witches to begin with? The whole premise is flawed - the only power they seemed to have at the start of the film was the ability to predict rain. But if that's witchcraft, then my weatherman is a warlock.
And using simple witchcraft to defeat the devil - that should be like using a blow-dryer fan to counter a tornado...
I didn't really understand why only one woman in town knew that the devil had come to town - was she the most religious woman in town? Was she blessed with a special type of insight? Why did the devil target her and get rid of her - and why didn't the other women in town realize that the devil was living in their town and seducing them?
This was based on a novel by John Updike, and from reading the book plot on-line, it seems like a lot of stuff got lost in the translation to film. And a lot of vomiting scenes were added, which just seems gratuitous.
Also starring Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer (last seen in "I Am Sam"), Susan Sarandon (last seen in "Enchanted"), Veronica Cartwright (last seen in "Man Trouble"), Richard Jenkins (last seen in "Me, Myself and Irene"), and Carel Struycken.
RATING: 3 out of 10 tennis rackets
JACK-O-METER: 8 out of 10 - Jack's true to form, though, playing a horny devil with plans to propagate. Then when the women give him the cold shoulder, he's hell-bent for revenge.
SPOOK-O-METER: 2 out of 10. More gross-out than scare-out. The devil never gets around to doing anything truly terrifying, either. I realize the devil needs to be charming, but he also needs to be evil.
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