BEFORE: I forgot to mention that I almost made it back to the Sundance Festival this month, I last went there in 2004 - actually that was to Slamdance, which takes place in the same city at the same time, so I got to see a bunch of films at Sundance also. My boss's new film is opening at Slamdance this coming Friday, and we were going to get 5 or 6 crew members to rent a ski loft or something in Park City, but the plans fell through. So I'll have to sit this one out and watch more movies at home.
I'm falling behind in the count again, so as they say in baseball, "Let's play two." Linking from "Anchorman 2", Will Ferrell and Steve Carell both carry over.
THE PLOT: Thinking he can overshadow an unknown actress in the part, an egocentric actor unknowingly gets a witch cast in an upcoming television remake of the classic show "Bewitched".
AFTER: Movies are often glimpses into fictional universes, where impossible things can exist - like vampires, minotaurs, or witches. And most times for convenience's sake those universes function just like our own, except for those things. If you're familiar with the old Marvel Comics, then you know that within that universe, there's a publishing company called Marvel Comics, that publishes (presumably authorized) stories where heroes fight villains - you would think that since superheroes exist in that world, kids would not need comic books, they could just look out the window and watch the fights as they happen. But more likely it was a way for our world's Marvel editors to write themselves into cameos in the books.
In a similar vein, tonight's film depicts a universe where witchcraft/magic is possible - but it's also a universe that had a TV sitcom called "Bewitched". Again, you would think that maybe witchcraft wouldn't be the basis for entertainment if it actually existed. So, it this our universe, or a different one? Yes and no - it all becomes quite confusing, and I've probably put more thought into it already than any of this film's producers or writers.
So a real witch trying to deny her heritage and powers tries to get by in the real world, and gets cast in a TV sitcom, playing a witch trying to deny her heritage and powers and get by in the real world. Make sense? Good, please explain it to me. The larger question is why would anyone make this so convoluted, so meta? Perhaps it's more like "Adaptation", in which a screenwriter is trying to adapt an impossible book, and instead writes a movie about how hard it is to adapt that book. And you're never quite sure if that screenplay became the basis of the film you're watching, or not.
My feeling is that someone tried to do a straight adaptation of the old Elizabeth Montgomery series, and found that they didn't have enough material - so they created this framework, turning the sitcom into the "play within the play". If Shakespeare wrote a sitcom, though, or even a play about a sitcom, it would no doubt be better than this.
Ah, yes, it's identity and purpose again - who is Isabel, if not a witch? Can she change who she is by changing what she does? Well, no, because she ends up using her powers all the time anyway, because how boring would it be if she stuck to her resolution? And every time she uses them, whether it's to clean the house or give herself more lines in the pilot episode, it's always for personal gain. So in the end she's no different from her egotistical, self-serving co-star.
Yep, it's Will Ferrell back-to-back, playing a TV star in both films who needs to be taken down a peg or two, and who goes through a divorce and personal crisis before becoming more self-aware. That's a pretty big coincidene. Steve Carell plays Paul Lynde's Uncle Arthur role (or is he playing Paul Lynde himself?) which is only weird because the TV show didn't cast an Uncle Arthur, and he first appears in the lead actor's dream, then again in the movie's reality. But, was he real or not? This whole section of the film made zero sense, and like the majority of the plot, was just ill-advised.
Also starring Nicole Kidman (last seen in "Cold Mountain"), Michael Caine (last seen in "The Dark Knight Rises"), Shirley MacLaine (last seen in "Guarding Tess"), Jason Schwartzman (last seen in "Marie Antoinette"), Kristin Chenoweth (last seen in "Running With Scissors"), Stephen Colbert (last heard in "Monsters vs. Aliens"), David Alan Grier (last heard in "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil"), Carole Shelley, with cameos from Michael Badalucco, James Lipton, Amy Sedaris (last heard in "Puss in Boots"), Richard Kind (last seen in "Argo"), Conan O'Brien, Mo Rocca, Kate Walsh, Nick Lachey and Wendi McLendon-Covey (last seen in "Bridesmaids").
RATING: 2 out of 10 doorknobs
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