Author: EVula
Date: 2/10/03
Rating: 9.2
Movie Rating: PG-13
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It's really sad when really funny movies are mostly ignored by the masses. Bedazzled is one of those movies.
Bedazzled is the story of one pathetic person: Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser). He's spinless, has no friends (although he has a group of co-workers that he jokes with; they loathe talking to him). He has the hots for Allison, a woman that he's been working with for four years (but of course doesn't even know who he is). Merely uttering "I'd give anything to be with her" is enough to summon up the Devil herself in the ever-so-yummy form of Elizabeth Hurley.
The Devil offers Elliot an offer: seven wishes for his soul. After some coaxing, Elliot signs the contract, and makes his first wish: to be rich, powerful, and married to Allison. Voila, he gets his wish with a twist: He's a Columbian drug lord. A very rich and powerful drug lord, whose wife is having an affair with her English tutor. Things just sort of go down hill from there, but you can't help but laugh as it happens.
All of his wishes are ruined in such a way (but I don't want to explain how the rest turn out; that would ruin it a bit). The supporting characters in all of his wishes (for example, his henchmen as the drug lord, or the sports commentators when he wishes to be an NBA player) are his "friends" from his real life.
The movie has some great character acting, the majority of which comes from Brendan Fraser. For each of the wishes, his look completely changes; in one wish, he's a Columbian drug lord with an enhanced nose and dark mustache with matching black hair, and in another, he's got freckles all over his face and acts much differently from the Columbian drug lord. :)
The supporting cast in this movie is also hilarious. Like I said, all of his coworkers have recurring roles in all of his wishes. Some of them are funnier than others, but all of them are really enjoyable to watch (especially the basketball player and intelligent wishes).
This DVD, while not chuck-full of tons of bonus features, is still quite nice. It's got a mildly amusing interface where you pick your wish (Rich, Intelligent, Famous, etc.) There are the now-standard trailers (which, oddly enough, feature scenes that aren't in the movie, but there isn't a "director's cut" or anything like that, dammit), as well as some commentaries with some folk, and the HBO special about the making of the film. There is also a still gallery; guys, don't hold your breath, there aren't tons of utterly gorgeous pics of Elizabeth Hurley, sorry. :)
However, the single feature that makes this movie worth getting on DVD (well, at least if you have a DVD player) is the extended basketball commentary. Holy shit is this thing funny. It's a five minute long continuous shot of the two sports announcers basically just talking. You can see where some of the commentary bits from the movie came from, but what's really funny is the perfect mocking of stupid sports commentators who just seem to run their mouth on and on about stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the game. Trust me, it's hilarious.
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Anyway, like I said before, it's a damn shame that this movie didn't do better than it did. This is one of those movies that you don't find out how funny it really is until after it's already had it's time in the spotlight at the box office. I highly recommend you go out and see it.