Practical Magic Review
by "Berge Garabedian" (drsuess AT microtec DOT net)May 28th, 1999
PRACTICAL MAGIC
RATING: 3 / 10 --> Crap on a stick
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PLOT:
Two sister witches have to live with a curse placed upon their family, which prevents them from ever enjoying a full life with a lover. The hex invokes the eventual demise of their loved one. When one of their past loves comes back to haunt them, they have to figure a way out of their eternal dilemma.
CRITIQUE:
I've been waiting for a good witch movie for a while now, but hold on to your brooms and incantations, cause this puppy is far from being it! For a film that has the word "magic" in its title, this movie contains very few moments of magic...or humor for that matter, drama, suspense, or romance. Well actually, there is some manufactured romance within a plot that is so muddled, it never lets you in on whether it's a comedy, a drama, a horror show, or a murder mystery. Or maybe it's a romance, eh? It doesn't really matter, cause the characters in the film are so boring and uninteresting, that you have absolutely no basis on which to care for them, or the film as a whole. If only the filmmakers had spent as much time on the plot as they did the sinfully obvious soundtrack, this film might've had a chance to be more than what it is now. Which is an unentertaining, crappy film that uses the witch angle as a diversionary tactic to weave us away from its grab-bag of stupid voice-overs, overdone songs, melodramatic romance, undeveloped story and uneven acting. I only wish that I could make that one hour and forty-five minutes of my life re-appear, but alas, it is lost in the spiritual world of "interesting ideas gone wildly awry".
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars:
This film is based on the novel written by Alice Hoffman. Co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also wrote the screenplay for 1997's BATMAN & ROBIN.
Director Griffin Dunne is known mainly as an actor in such films as AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and AFTER HOURS.
Review Date: May 23, 1999
Director: Griffin Dunne
Writers: Robin Swicord, Akiva Goldsman and Adam Brooks Producer: Denise DiNovi
Actors: Sandra Bullock as Sally Owens
Nicole Kidman as Gillian Owens
Aidan Quinn as Gary Hallet
Genre: Drama
Year of Release: 1998
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
