October 30, 2005

Twitched

I just got done watching Bewitched , which I wanted to see since my friend worked on it and Lori & I visited the set.

Man did it suck!

I don't think the casting was bad, though Steve Carrell was quite disappointing as Uncle Arthur (and I like Steve Carrell). Nicole Kidman is physically a great choice to play Samantha, Will Ferrell was fine, Michael Caine was charming - even Shirley MacClaine was tolerable.

Unfortunately the script was pathetic. Soooo, so bad. I had a feeling it might stink when I heard it was a Nora Ephron endeavor (in fact, I heard that when we were on set and let out an audible "Ech!" - oops) I figured she didn't have the chops to pull it off and I was right. It was such a great show, with so many fun episodes to choose from - why they decided to try this tactic is beyond me. Movie in a movie is very tricky and rarely successful.

Word of Mouth Scale:

And the soundtrack - who picked these tunes? I mean, they were fine tunes and the CD may be great, but most were completely out of place and distracting in this movie.

UPDATE: Ouch
Production budget - $80,000,000
Total US Gross - $62,252,415

"Director Nora Ephron takes an imaginative idea and turns it into a flat, skill-less dud."
-- Boo Allen

UPDATE: Seems that Reilly agrees, though she is perhaps not quite as vehement as I was.

Posted by Vox at October 30, 2005 04:21 PM | movies
Comments

I wanted to see that movie cause Will Ferrell is in it but I now I think I'll pass. Thanks for the warning!

Posted by: yayaempress at October 31, 2005 11:18 AM

It's OK, if you get it for free like I did (I love Blockbuster online and their free coupons) - and if you just want to see Will Ferrell (he was a draw for me, too). This wasn't his best work, but I always find him amusing.

Maybe I was just expecting/hoping for too much because I liked the show so much...

Posted by: Vox at October 31, 2005 12:38 PM

Boo!

Posted by: Lori at October 31, 2005 07:05 PM

They spent $80 million for that piece of sh*t?

Posted by: Macker at November 1, 2005 10:48 PM

I know, it's hard to believe - and you can only blame a small percentage of that on effects, there just weren't that many and they were mostly basic.

It was shot in LA, and apparently most of that on their lot, so location shouldn't have cost that much.

Actors salaries? Publicity? Grande Mocha Lattes every morning for the whole crew....?

They did manage to make a bit more money with the worldwide distribution, but it is still a dog profit wise.

Posted by: Vox at November 2, 2005 07:32 AM