Bewitched

In what appears to be a late entry into the '60s TV remake sweepstakes that began in the mid-'90s with The Brady Bunch and The Addams Family (Hollywood has seemed to have moved on to a new decade recently, with The Dukes of Hazzard and the upcoming Miami Vice remakes), fallen romantic comedy queen Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle) takes on the "witch marries a regular Joe concept" plot of the sitcom Bewitched. However, Ephron attempts something that her remake predecessors have yet to do. Instead of simply rehashing the premise of the sitcom, she sets the film in the present day. Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) is a fading actor who is offered the part of Darren in a television remake of Bewitched. Desperate to regain his celebrity status, Jack ensures that the woman cast as Samantha is an unknown that will not steal his thunder. He finds Isabel (Nicole Kidman), who it just so happens is actually a closeted witch. It seems as though this is the point in the script where Ephron ran out of whatever creativity she had. The story falls into a hole of lame, as Jack and Isabel fall in love, creating the "witch marries regular Joe" problems that would have occurred between Darren and Samantha. Though the film appears to be a new take on this exceedingly popular genre of "nostalgic remake," it ends up being simply disguised as such. The DVD contains the usual "run of the mill" extras. There's a lame "witch vision" trivia track, some deleted scenes and a fairly boring director's commentary. (Sony)