Skip to content
Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 20018 DVD
- Running time: 90 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 15 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Two Deleted Scenes, Costume Design Featurette, Trailer, TV Spots,Audio Commentaries
Director:
- Harold Ramis
(Analyse This, Bedazzled (2000), Caddyshack, Club Paradise, Groundhog Day, Multiplicity, National Lampoon’s Summer Vacation, Stuart Saves His Family)
Producers:
- Trevor Albert and Harold Ramis
Screenplay:
- Larry Gelbart, Harold Ramis and Peter Tolan(original screenplay by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore)
Music :
- David Newman
Cast :
- Elliot Richards: Brendan Fraser
The Devil: Elizabeth Hurley
Alison: Frances O’Connor
Carol: Miriam Shor
Dan: Orlando Jones
Bob: Paul Adelstein
Based on the original Bedazzledfrom 1967, written and starring the late, great Peter Cook and theailing Dudley Moore, I came to this remake with some trepidation goingby all the bad press I had heard about it beforehand.
Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser) is a loser in life, love and everythingelse. All his work colleagues think he’s a joke and he’s desperate to gettogether with the girl who doesn’t even know he’s alive, Alison (FrancesO’Connor). When The Devil appears in the form of Elizabeth Hurleyshe claims to be able to give him seven wishes in return for his soul.
His problems don’t end there though as his first wish to become married toAlison and to be rich and powerful ends up a disastrous mess, but after theinitial hiccup will he learn for next time?
So where does it fall down? Well, Fraser and Hurley are fine for the materialthey’re presented with and put the required effort into their roles, despitethe fact that I must be the only guy who doesn’t find Hurley the hot babe themedia portrays her to be. The problem comes that, although it’s far from thepainful experience I expected, for a comedy it just doesn’t make you laugh andin the end the movie proves that you can’t change certain parts of the worldto your advantage and when it comes to love, the Pet Shop Boys‘ LoveComes Quickly was right in that love will come “..just when you leastexpect it, just what you least expect”.
Like the rental DVD forWhat Lies Beneath,Fox have sourced a well-rendered anamorphic widescreen transfer. Shot in 2.35:1Panavision, every scene would suck badly in pan-and-scan. However, the onlydowner is that the the filming process used has a weird effect of makingpeople’s heads look stretched in certain scenes and it’s rather off-putting attimes.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and has its brief moments, but isn’tin anything exceptional.
Previously arriving on an extras-free rental DVD, the extras consist of aMaking-of Featurette ‘hosted’ by La Hurley herself, but it runs forjust 13 minutes, features the usual chat from the cast and crew and non-anamorphic16:9 clips. Yep, no surprises here. Then follows just over two minutes ofwhen the music score was recorded over a fantasy scene, which is nothing towrite home about.
Two Deleted Scenes are included: one “Basketball Game” which is just thetwo commentators chatting away pointlessly and “Rock Star Fantasy”, runningfor just over ten minutes and turns Fraser into an Alice Cooper-a-likeswearing at his roadies, but all the “fuck” and “cunt” swearwords are bleepedout so what’s the 15-certificate in aid off when it’s attributed to this scene??It’s because of these 15-cert deleted scenes that the front cover says “Noweven hotter! With deleted scenes too sizzling for the cinema”. All peopledo is swear and the back cover attributes the latter scene as the sole causeof the 15-cert when it’s down to both of them.
Fox, cut the crap, this is complete bollocks and you know it. Stop tryingto confuse the public like this! By the way, these scenes are in non-anamorphic2.35:1.
There’s also a 5-minute Costume Design Featurette, Stills Gallery,a Trailer, 3 TV spots and Two Audio Commentaries, one withHarold Ramis and the other with Liz Hurley and producer TrevorAlbert.
When you first run the disc you can choose from four options: Rich, Famous,Intelligent and Sensitive, which displays a different main menu,with the same sub-menus underneath, but sadly all of these are static andsilent.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.