Practical Magic (1998) - Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, and lots of people we'll never hear from again because this movie utterly ruined their careers
I don't know why, but witchcraft sells movie tickets. From "The Craft" to "The Witches of Eastwick," movies can instantly make a respectable profit just by invoking the magic of, well, magic.
In deference to 100 years of Hollywood, I won't delve into the myriad religious inaccuracies all those movies, and the new "Practical Magic," are filled with. The truth about witches wouldn't sell many tickets.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, sell tickets in spades. In "Practical Magic" they play sisters, Sally and Gillian Owens, trying to shake off a family curse. Should one of them ever fall in love, the object of her affection will die a horrible, untimely death.
Of course, this happens to Sally's husband (Mark Feuerstein), then to Gillian's latest fling, Jimmy Angelov (Goran Visnjic). Jimmy has a "thing" for kidnapping and beating women, though, so when they kill him it almost seems justified. He keeps coming back from the dead, and hilarity ensues.
Or at least it's supposed to.
For some reason, "Practical Magic" is billed as a dark romantic comedy. (No, it doesn't sound terribly romantic or even funny.) There is a bit of comedy, though it's sparse and not terribly well-done. There's even a bit of romance, but it doesn't show up until nearly an hour into the film. When it does, it finally takes the form of Aidan Quinn as a cop from Arizona trying to track Jimmy down.
The cast is top-notch. Bullock and Kidman are both capable actresses and have plenty of on-screen chemistry. They laugh and fight and jug as sisters do, and in the process almost manage to save the movie from the bottom of the barrel.
Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest play the family's eccentric aunts, but they seem restrained and not nearly as eccentric as they should be. Visnjic, in the inherently juicy role of villain, is fun to watch in that guilty-pleasure sort of way, but he doesn't get as much screen time as his subplot deserves.
Sadly, even magic can't salvage very much of what was a very good idea. "Practical Magic" is based on the novel by Alice Hoffman; for the five bucks your movie ticket will cost, you can take the book home with you. The only reason to see the movie would be the popcorn.
...dave
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