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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2005)
40 J««« OUt ’ ¡uly 1. 2005 FILM GLENN JESSE ELIZABETH JAMES CLOSE BANKS BRADFORD MARSDEN Which is witch? “TWO THUMBS UP. EXCELLENT!” Remake straightens out one of the queerest shows in television history -RICHARD ROEPER, EBERT&ROEPER MERCHANT IVORY PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS • I A FILM BY CHRIS TERRIO WWW sonydass.es com SONY PICTURES CLASSICS C2OO5 SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT INC NOW PLAYING! I 1 800 FANDANGO x327 CALL THFATRE OR CHECK »RECTORY FOR SHOWTiMES VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.HEIGHTS-MOVIE.COM IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO FALL IN LOVE FOR THE FIRST TIME. A “FRESH AND FUNNY! DIRECTOR ^7 ALICE WU SHAKES THINGS UP.” JAMI BERNARD, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ,» - ■ I‘a Saving Face j A New Comedv Cornei An Alice Wu Film > * ' I 4IU ;sics ,Www. jh SICS pnm SO7VI COlII 02005 SONÌ Now Playing! I CALL THEATRE OR CHECK DIRECTORY FOR SHOWTIMES REGAL CINEMAS FOX TOWER 10 1 800 FANDANGO x327 ■ VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW SAVINGFACEMOVIE.COM This Summer’s Best Reviewed. Most Mysterious And Most Provocative Film. Eljr New jjork Simes w — CwvuL ¿mtn. — She Oregonian Coe Anfldes STumes EXCEPTIONAL! TULL OF BEAUTY MOST PROVOCATIVE!' AND WONDER!* — M4TC now Playing CML THEATRE OR CHECK DIRECTORY FOR SHOWTIMES ★ ★ ★ ★ ! A SUMMER MOVIE TO LOVE! — The Christian Science Monitor — — REGAL CINEMAS FOX TOWER 10 1-800-FANDANGOx327 by G ary M orris t’s official: Remake Fever is raging in Holly Evans (Samantha’s father), along with the fey wood, with clueless producers desperately Doctor Bombay. Montgomery was an enduring, mining baby txxnner TV comedies, cartoons outspoken champion of the queer community and thrillers to bexist sagging profits. Some who appeared at Gay Pride parades. And the of these have fizzled (Leave It to Beaver), others other women in the cast—Endora (Agnes have sizzled (Mission: Impossible), but the trend isn’t exactly heartening. This is the tired Cult of the Familiar, playing to audiences’ need for com fort, safety and cheap nostalgia. And there are plenty more—from Home Improvement to The Huxtables— in the offing. The latest in this trend is Bewitched, an uneven retread of the ’60s mega-hit starring one of the queerest casts of characters in televi sion history. This time the filmmakers didn’t try for a traditional remake, opting instead for a kind of homage in which egomaniacal star Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) unwittingly hires a real witch, Isabel (Nicole Kidman), to star in a TV remake of Bewitched, with the Paul Lynde (right, with Dick York) helped make Bewitched two of them playing Samantha and TV’s queerest comedy from 1964 to 1972. Darrin Stevens. I Moorhead), Esmeralda (Alice Ghost- ley) and shrieking shrew neigh bor Gladys Kravitz (San dra Gould and Alice Pearce)— kxik, dress and act like drag queens. S * If the movie / version short changes the ffiT— ----- £___1LÍ Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell reprise Samantha and Darrin Stevens in Bewitched. queer motifs, fans can at While Kidman and Ferrell aren’t supposed least comfort themselves with the original TV to be Samantha and Darren in the narrative series, the first season of which has been proper, they’re veritable doubles, with Kidman released on DVD. The characters and their reprising Bewitched star Elizabeth Mont shtick make this show, and they’re among TV’s gomery’s mix of sweet and sultry, and Ferrell most memorable. Montgomery and York’s echoing Dick York’s hysterics. Kidman, always chemistry remains a pleasure to watch after all likable, makes a middling Montgomery clone, these years. And the supporting characters are though her character doesn’t extend too far among TV comedy’s most memorable: Darrin’s and her emotional explosions don’t quite regis conniving boss, Larry Tate, a sharp satire of the ter. Ferrell is typically overanimated, with a amoral Madison Avenue exec; Kravitz and her few moments where some real emotion shines long-suffering husband, Abner, who never sees through his high jinks. the witchery that drives his wife crazy; droll The rest of the cast is mostly wasted. Endora and her witty attacks on Darrin; and, Shirley MacLaine, given only a few scenes as of course, all those homos. Isabel’s mother, Endora, looks lost, while tal Based on such Hollywood classics as ents like David Alan Grier and Amy Sedaris I Married a Witch and Bell, Book and Candle, make little impression. Bewitched broke ground on other levels besides Still, there are enough laughs to make this the queer. It was the first sitcom in which a a hit. Particularly funny is a scene in which couple slept in the same bed and the first with Isabel uses her powers to make Jack imperson a separated cojiple (Samantha’s parents). And ate a queen, a Mexican, a Brit—you name it— coming at the height of the civil rights era, it’s at an important production conference. Jack’s hard not to read Sam and Darrin’s “mixed mar nightmare of walking out naked onto Late riage”—witch and mortal—as a sly comment Night with Conan O’Brien is also a winner. on racism, which gives an added frisson to this Queer viewers may lament the lack of gay sitcom classic. The four-disc DVD set includes vibes in the movie. After all, this show was a whopping 36 black-and-white episodes, TV’s Homo Central comedy from 1964 to a charming bloopers reel and an informative 1972. It wasn’t just the obvious queens—real- featurette, “The Magic Unveiled." JM life gay men Paul Lynde (Uncle Arthur), Dick Sargent (the second Darrin) and Maurice G ary M orris is a good witch, not a bad witch. y >