Bedazzled

Directed by Harold Ramis, Bedazzled follows an unlikable schlub (Brendan Fraser’s Elliot Richards) as he’s offered seven wishes in exchange for his soul by the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley). It’s a high-concept premise that’s employed to periodically affable yet consistently erratic effect by Ramis, as the filmmaker, armed with a script written alongside Larry Gelbart and Peter Tolan, delivers an almost episodic comedy that generally seems to miss as much as it hits – with the decidedly affable bent of the two leads’ solid work going a long way towards smoothing over the narrative’s bumps and lulls. And although the picture admittedly does boast a handful of genuinely amusing interludes, with Elliot’s transformation into a Spanish-speaking drug lord a clear highlight within the proceedings, Bedazzled‘s general lack of momentum ensures that there’s exceedingly little here for one to wholeheartedly get invested in – which, when coupled with a storyline that peters out to a fairly substantial degree, cements the picture’s place as a so-so comedy that would hardly be worth mentioning were it not for Fraser and Hurley’s first-class efforts.

**1/2 out of ****