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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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Bedazzled (2000)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

The Devil in Miss Hurley

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Bedazzled on DVD

Harold Ramis directs this shot-in-San Francisco remake of the 1960's Stanley Donen comedy. Brendan Fraser stars as an office nerd who sells his soul to the devil (Elizabeth Hurley) for seven wishes and tries to get the beautiful girl (Frances O'Connor) he works with to fall in love with him. As if by magic, this lowbrow film falls together and works in a charming, goofy way. Perhaps it's the guidance of Ramis, whose Groundhog Day and Caddyshack have entered the realm of comedy classics. Perhaps it's the combination of Fraser's likable schlub and Hurley's sexy devil, or maybe it's the wildly imaginative guises Fraser adopts as his wishes come true, like a Spanish drug lord or a loud-mouthed basketball player. Whatever he becomes the actor is up for it, giving a full-blooded performance.

DVD Details: The DVD contains a lovely transfer, with two separate commentary tracks, one by Harold Ramis and the other by Hurley and producer Trevor Albert. I had hoped that Ramis, one of the stars of Ghostbusters, would provide some humor on his track, but it's pretty straightforward, as is Hurley's and Albert's. But the disc contains all kinds of other goodies as well.

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley, Frances O'Connor, Orlando Jones, Brian Doyle-Murray
Written by: Larry Gelbart, Harold Ramis, Peter Tolan, based on a story by Peter Cook
Directed by: Harold Ramis
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sex-related humor, language and some drug content
Running Time: 93 minutes
Date: May 10, 2001