CIAO -- Cheating Is Apparently Okay. Sorry - not participating on Ciao until the cheating is dealt ...
CIAO -- Cheating Is Apparently Okay. Sorry - not participating on Ciao until the cheating is dealt with. Ciao doesn't seem to care. I wonder if the people paying advertising fees know...
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Dudley Moore and Peter Cook were once the dynamic duo of comedy in Britain (and, to a lesser extent, America), having variously stage shows, television shows, and movies before going their mostly separate ways. One of their great collaborations is 'Bedazzled', a somewhat Faustian-influenced comedy about a man making a pact with the devil to get the woman he desires, only to have it get increasingly silly as it gets increasingly specific. Cook and Moore, in addition to co-starring, co-authored the script for the film as well.
Moore is the poor man in love with a woman unobtainable; Cook is the devil (in very seductive guise, as is the devil's usual image) who promises him he will grant wishes if in turn he gains rights to Moore's soul. During the course of conversation, the devil explains that he and God have been in competition, and the first to reach a set figure wins, and Moore will put the devil over the top.
So, Moore makes a wish. Of course, in typical devilish fashion, it goes awry. The devil, being a sporting sort, gives Moore the chance to be more specific, to refine his wish. And this he does, to the point of absurdity. Instead of simply wishing to have the woman he loves, he ends up wishing that he loves her and she loves him (poof! they're in love, but married to other people--still a bit of a no no in 60's Britain); increasing refinements bring him to the point of wishing that he loves her, and she loves him, they're not married, etc. until finally Moore finds himself and his love are both nuns (forget to specify that he would be male!) in a convent specialising in spiritual leaping (the scene of Moore on the trampoline wearing a nun's habit is worth the full cost of rental of the movie!).
In the end, the devil pays a call on God (who lives in a greenhouse that looks suspiciously like one of the major botanical research greenhouses in Britain, but...) who lets the devil in on the trick that the competition wasn't really on, prompting the release of Moore to go back to his life (which by this point Moore realises wasn't so bad), and the devil slinks away, disappointed.
There is so much subtle humour mixed in with the bawdy and tumbling humour that this really is a treat. One friend has likened it to Austin Powers, and that is not far off the mark, for this really was the swinging 60s in Britain.
The various seven deadly sins are all personified here, including Rachel Welch as Lust (big surprise!) and Barry Humphries (Dame Edna) in one of his earliest screen appearances as Envy.
It is amazing to see what passed for questionable morality in movies (given what we see on prime-time television today) with the hindsight that living in the 2000s gives us. This movie seems positively tame by comparison to more recent features. But, it still delights, and the plot is timeless (even if the details will change over time).
You'll be bedazzled too.
Of course, there has been a remake, and perhaps the sincerest form of flattery for any film is that it is worthy of being remade. The Brendan Fraser/Elizabeth Hurley team of the innocent fool and devil is much more a 90s/new millennium style, but for classic comedy, this show is sinful!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Gareth Carrivick - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Kathryn Drysdale, Sheridan Smith, Natalie Casey, Will Mellor, Ralf Little
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
I never fancied watching the Liz Hurley movie but this sounds right up my street. Cook and Moore are always a treat to watch. Persuasive review, there!
Brendan Fraser stars inBedazzledas Elliot, a dweebish office worker who yearns for Alison ... more
(Frances O'Connor), a coworker who barely knows he exists. When he blithely says he'd give his soul for Alison, the Devil appears in the fetching guise of Elizabe...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Brendan Fraser stars inBedazzledas Elliot, a dweebish office worker who yearns for Alison ... more
(Frances O'Connor), a coworker who barely knows he exists. When he blithely says he'd give his soul for Alison, the Devil appears in the fetching guise of Elizabe...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Brendan Fraser is a hapless, love-starved computer technician who falls prey to sinfully ... more
sexy Elizabeth Hurley when he agrees to sell her his soul in exchange for seven wishes. But the sly Princess of Darkness has more than a few tricks up her sleeve. ...
![Bedazzled [DVD] [2000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/76558846.jpg "Bedazzled [DVD] [2000]")
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