Bedazzled (2000)

1.5 out of 4

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley, Frances O'Connor, Orlando Jones, Brian Doyle-Murray

Director: Harold Ramis

Time: 93 mins

Brendan Fraser has made a career playing the lovable loser/oddball type who always ends up getting the girl at the end of the film. Films like Encino Man, George Of The Jungle, Blast From The Past, Dudley Do-Right, and, to a lesser extent, The Mummy, exploit his rubbery features and penchant for physical comedy. Bedazzled, a modern update of the 1967 Dudley Moore comedy of the same name, calls upon his full suite of facial expressions as a man who strikes a deal with the devil in return for seven wishes. When the devil is played by the luscious Elizabeth Hurley, you have the potential for a diabolically funny film. What results is a surprisingly limp ninety minutes that has only a few laughs and precious little else.

Brendan is Elliot Richards, a computer employee who has no friends and is continually shunned and made fun of by co-workers. He has an eye for Alison (Frances O'Connor), another co-worker, but she doesn't seem to notice him. Then the devil, in the form of Elizabeth Hurley, drops in on him, and offers him an offer he can't refuse. In return for his soul, the devil will grant Elliot seven wishes. He signs the contract, and immediately wishes to be rich, powerful, and married to Alison. However, not everything goes to plan. Elliot discovers he is now a Columbian drug lord (rich and powerful, of course), and Alison is having an affair with her English instructor. Naturally, Elliot opts out, but as he goes through each of his subsequent wishes, he finds that the scenarios are not exactly what he was hoping for. He decides not to complete his last wish, but the devil comes to collect.

The best parts of the film are the adventures Elliot gets into when each of his wishes comes to life. Aside from the drug lord mentioned above, Elliot also becomes a Michael Jordan-like basketballer and an emotionally sensitive man. But, as Elliot gradually learns, any dealings with the devil involves a sting in the tail. Aside from these scenes, there is little to laugh about. And, even during these scenes, once the novelty of seeing Elliot in different guises has worn off, the laugh quotient falls. I haven't seen the original Bedazzled, but surely something funnier could have been fashioned out of such a delicious concept.

Brendan is quite good in all his incarnations, but the script doesn't allow him to develop much beyond being a lovable dweeb. It is fun to see the various wigs he has to wear, though. Hurley is beautiful, of course, and is paraded in a veritable wardrobe of figure-hugging clothes and gorgeous outfits to show off her ample charms. She is fine as the devil, but then how else does one play such a well-known character? Australia's Frances O'Connor, as the object of Elliot's affections, is pretty in a Barbara Hershey sort-of way, but her character is also never fully developed, required as she is to play Elliot's love interest in each wish. Her attempts at several accents are passable, however.

With all its faults, it's surprising to see that ex-Ghostbuster-turned-director Harold Ramis is behind this film. While not exactly renowned as a great director, he has helmed classics like National Lampoon's Vacation and Groundhog Day in the past, as well as the very funny recent mob comedy Analyze This. Though not a completely hellish experience, Bedazzled still turns out to be one of his lesser efforts.

(c) Joe Wong (26 January 2001)