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
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A FILM BY CHRIS TERRIO
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^7 ALICE WU SHAKES THINGS UP.”
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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 >