If you're a baby boomer, then the 1960s TV series Bewitched surely counts as a childhood favorite. Remember the witch Samantha Stephens twitching her nose to cast a spell? Created in 1964, the lighthearted comedy series aired for eight years on ABC – much longer if you include re-runs. In this big screen version, director/scriptwriter Nora Ephron (You've Got Mail) scratched her head and came up with a totally different story. Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kidman) is an ingénue witch who wants to lead a normal human life – whatever that is. She's cast as the lead for a remake of the TV-series Bewitched opposite has-been actor Jack Wyatt. Somehow this version ended up a messy mixture of reality (within the movie) and fiction. Ephron has stretched the movie concept (a remake within the remake) for more than 100 minutes that lack pace and timing – key ingredients for a successful comedy. Those viewers unacquainted with the TV-series will be left wondering what all the fuss is about. Fortunately, Kidman, more radiant than ever, doesn't need a magic spell to make this flick look cute.
Sony Pictures

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
December 2005 issue