This 2000 film is a remake of the 1967 film with the same name starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The original was good, the remake is better.
Elliott Richards is responsible for telephone technical support in an office in San Francisco. Due to his awkward personality he has no friends. For four years he's had a crush on a colleague called Alison, who has never even noticed him. One day he's approached by a beautiful woman who says he can have Alison or anything else he wants. The woman is the Devil, and she offers him seven wishes in exchange for his soul. After some hesitation he signs a contract and the wishes begin.
The problem is that the Devil tricks Elliott by giving him what he wishes for, but mixing in things that he forgot to mention. For instance, in his first wish he asks to be married to Alison, but he forgot to specify that she should love him, so he finds her having an affair with another man. Every wish he asks for is fulfilled, but there's always a catch. He's never happy with what he gets.
I have to ask why Elliott is so obsessed with Alison. I would have fallen head over heels in love with the Devil herself. Alison is a timid little mouse, not particularly attractive, but the Devil is beautiful, sexy and evil. That's everything I want in a woman. Judge for yourself.
 |
| Frances O'Connor as Alison |
 |
| Elizabeth Hurley as the Devil |
If a woman like that asked me to bite her apple my reply would be, "Just one apple? I'll eat the whole tree".
The film ends with a pseudo-religious message which effectively negates the whole threat of Elliott losing his soul. Heaven and Hell are just metaphorical terms. The Devil is friends with God anyway, it's all a game the two of them are playing. Blah blah blah. So Hell isn't really a place where we'll be tortured by Elizabeth Hurley for all eternity? I'm disappointed.
Never really liked this one. I don't rate Hurley much as an actress and she really chews the scenery in this half the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you don't like it. I like the whole film, apart from Brendan Fraser's over-the-top stupidity at the beginning. And Elizabeth Hurley is perfect to me. Do you dislike it because you think the original version is better?
DeleteShe was OK once in Austin Powers, and good for a laugh at being killed off in the 2nd one. But she only interests me in real life. Brendan is mostly a solid comedic actor for me, and did very well in the Quiet American.
ReplyDeleteI kind of found this film OK in the cinema but was a lot younger, The fact I remember so little and don't care about that, tells me it isn't my cup of tea.
I was astonished when I watched "Gods and Monsters" for the first time recently. Brendan Fraser can handle serious roles well. He's also good as the troubled assassin in "The air I breathe". Looking at his bio, he's played a lot of serious roles, but his comic roles are better known.
Delete