Bewitched
Directed by Nora Ephron
Thinking he can overshadow an unknown actress in the part, an egocentric actor unknowingly gets a witch cast in an upcoming television remake of the classic sitcom Bewitched (1964).
Bewitched Ratings & Reviews
- ShaydeknightApril 5, 2026Bewitched takes a meta approach that sounds clever on paper. It's a remake about actors making a remake of Bewitched. In practice, it collapses into coincidence piled on coincidence. Characters meet by chance, careers pivot instantly, and the whole plot moves on contrivance rather than motivation. Instead of feeling playful, it just feels arbitrary, which makes most of the film boring and simply awkward to watch. Nicole Kidman never quite finds a comic rhythm. She spends much of the film wide eyed, breathy, and vaguely ethereal, which fits the intended innocence of the character but quickly becomes grating because she's as connected to her character as New York is to Paris via rail. The performance is unfunny and completely unbelievable. Will Ferrell as a romantic lead is even more awkward. He normally does well in absurd comedy, but here he's asked to ground the film emotionally, and it doesn't suit him. Together, they have absolutely no chemistry, which is fatal for a story built around their relationship. Their interactions are genuinely painful to watch. The supporting cast is stacked and mostly wasted. Shirley MacLaine is a perfect conceptual choice, and Michael Caine brings his usual polish, but neither is given anything meaningful to do. They're basically props or mere checkbox items on the list of things a Bewitched movie needs to have. Steve Carell delivers what may be the cringiest performance of his career. He leans heavily into a vocal imitation of Paul Lynde, and technically, it's extremely accurate, so good on him for that. The problem is that it lands like ice water. It's completely disconnected, as though he wandered in from a different production and never quite plugged into the tone. Technically, the film is competent enough. The effects are fine, the sets are polished, and nothing looks particularly cheap. None of that helps the pacing, which drags badly. It's curious that Nora Ephron directs with a strangely misjudged sense of what made the original beloved. The lightness and charm are replaced with self awareness and contrivance. Instead of celebrating the property, the film ends up feeling like a dismantling of it. The result is extremely disappointing. The story is predictable, the humour rarely lands, and the film steadily becomes more boring as it goes. It is dull, oddly joyless, and surprisingly hard to sit through.
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Bewitched Trivia
Bewitched was released on June 24, 2005.
Bewitched was directed by Nora Ephron.
Bewitched has a runtime of 1h 42m.
Bewitched was produced by Lucy Fisher, Nora Ephron, Penny Marshall, Douglas Wick.
Thinking he can overshadow an unknown actress in the part, an egocentric actor unknowingly gets a witch cast in an upcoming television remake of the classic sitcom Bewitched (1964).
The key characters in Bewitched are Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kidman), Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell), Iris Smythson / Endora (Shirley MacLaine).
Bewitched is rated PG-13.
Bewitched is a Comedy, Fantasy, Romance film.
Bewitched has an audience rating of 2.8 out of 10.
Bewitched had a budget of $85M.
Bewitched has made $131.4M at the box office.