Tuesday 2 May 2017

Bedazzled (2000) (4½ Stars)


After watching Al Pacino as the Devil in "Devil's Advocate" last month I decided to watch "Bedazzled" again. Elizabeth Hurley is much more to my taste as the Lord (or rather Lady) of Evil.

How many stars have played the Devil in films? I could easily google and find dozens of names, but for now I'll just list the ones I can name from memory. In alphabetical order:

"Angel Heart" Robert de Niro
"Bedazzled" Elizabeth Hurley
"Devil's Advocate" Al Pacino
"End of Days" Gabriel Byrne
"Little Nicky" Harvey Keitel
"New York Winter's Tale" Will Smith
"Shortcut to Happiness" Jennifer Love Hewitt

"Bedazzled" is a remake of a famous comedy by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, which in turn was a retelling of Goethe's "Faust", the story of a good man who sold his soul to the Devil. In the 2000 version the Devil is an incredibly sexy woman, in looks and in attitude. Love-stricken Elliot Richards sells his soul in order to win the woman of his dreams, his colleague Alison, who hasn't even noticed him after four years of working together. I honestly don't understand Elliot. After the first meeting with Elizabeth Hurley I would have fallen in love with the Devil. In one scene she even offers to spank him and he turns her down. What's wrong with him?


I would have given the film five stars if not for the silly speech at the end which relativises everything.

"Look, Elliot, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. The whole good-and-evil thing? You know, Him and me? It really comes down to you. You don't have to look very hard for Heaven and Hell. They're right here on Earth. You make the choice".

If all that were true there would have been no point in tempting Elliot to sell his soul in the first place. The scriptwriter and director didn't think it through logically.

Click here to read my original review of "Bedazzled".

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