''Bedazzled'' is a 2000

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by

Harold Ramis Harold Allen Ramis ( ; November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His film acting roles include Egon Spengler in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984) and ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), and as Russell Ziskey in '' St ...

and starring

Brendan Fraser Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor. List of awards and nominations received by Brendan Fraser, His accolades include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a nomination for a Golden Globe A ...

and

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English comedian, actor, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishmen ...

and

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. He first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-perf ...

, itself a comic retelling of the

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

legend. It follows a computer company worker who makes a deal with the Devil to receive seven wishes in exchange for his soul so he can pursue the woman he loves, though the Devil twists the spirit of each wish to frustrate him.

Plot

The Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

runs a computer simulation to analyze souls to determine individual weaknesses to exploit. The program settles on Elliot Richards, a sweet, geeky, over-zealous man working a dead-end job in a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

computer company. He has no friends, and his co-workers avoid him. He has a crush on colleague Alison Gardner, but lacks the courage to ask her out. After Elliot is ditched by his co-workers at a bar while trying to talk to Alison, he says he would give anything for Alison to be with him. The Devil, in the form of a charming and beautiful woman, overhears him and offers to give Elliot seven wishes in exchange for his soul. As a test, Elliot wishes for a

Big Mac The Big Mac is a brand of hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced by a Greater Pittsburgh Region, Greater Pittsburgh area Franchising, franchisee in 1967 and expanded nationwide in 1968, and ...

and a large Coke. The Devil takes him to

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

and places the order. Elliot has to pay for it, because the Devil left her purse in the Underworld. After taking Elliot to her office, based at a nightclub in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, the Devil convinces Elliot to sign her contract, and delivers further wishes. Each wish has Elliot living them out with Alison and his co-workers in surrogate roles. However, the Devil always spoils his wishes by adding something he does not expect or want. After going through five wishes, Elliot is arrested after confessing his story to a priest who believed he was

drunk Alcohol intoxication, commonly described in higher doses as drunkenness or inebriation, and known in overdose as alcohol poisoning, is the behavior and physical effects caused by recent consumption of alcohol. The technical term ''intoxication ...

. The Devil, dressed as a police officer, throws him in a cell, telling him that she likes him, and it would not hurt to have her as a friend. Elliot's friendly cellmate tells him that he cannot sell his soul as it belongs to

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

, and although the Devil may try to confuse him, in the end he will realize who he truly is, and what his purpose is. Elliot questions the man as to his identity, but the response is simply "a really good friend". Elliot asks the Devil to cancel their contract. When the Devil refuses, Elliot states he will not use his final wish. The Devil teleports them to Hell. When the Devil pushes him to make a final wish, Elliot wishes that Alison could have a happy life – with or without him. The Devil sighs and Elliot falls into the depths of Hell. He wakes up on a marble staircase, wondering if it is

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

. The Devil tells him that a provision in the contract's

fine print Fine print, small print, or mouseprint is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service. The larger print that is us ...

states that a selfless wish voids the contract. Elliot admits that despite her manipulation of him he has come to like the Devil and regards her as a friend. She advises that Heaven and Hell can be found on Earth being up to humans to choose. Elliot asks Alison out, but discovers she is already dating another man. He continues with his life, with a better understanding of who he is. Elliot is confronted by Bob, one of his co-workers, who ridicules Elliot at the encouragement of his co-workers. Elliot grabs a terrified Bob by the shirt, but lets go, simply saying, "Nice talking to you." At home, he meets a new neighbor, Nicole Delarusso, whose looks resemble Alison's but whose personality, interests and fashion sense are much closer to his. He offers to help her unpack and they begin a relationship. While the two walk along a boulevard, the Devil and Elliot's cellmate, both dressed in white, are playing

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

. The Devil's computer program lists Nicole and Elliot's foibles, which they tolerate.

Cast

as ** Elliot Richards **

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Elizabeth Hurley Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965) is an English actress and model. Her best-known film roles are Vanessa Kensington in '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997) and as the Devil in '' Bedazzled'' (2000).the Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

Frances O'Connor Frances Ann O'Connor (born 12 June 1967) is a British-Australian actress and director. She appears in roles in the films '' Mansfield Park'', '' Bedazzled'', '' A.I. Artificial Intelligence'', '' The Importance of Being Earnest'', and ''Timelin ...

as Alison Gardner / Nicole Delarusso *

Orlando Jones Orlando Jones (born April 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for being one of the original cast members of the sketch comedy series ''MADtv'', for his role as the 7 Up spokesman from 1999 to 2002, and for his role ...

as ** Daniel / Dan / Danny ** Esteban ** Beach Jock ** Lamar Garrett (Sportscaster) ** Dr. Ngegitigegitibaba (African Party Guest) *

Paul Adelstein Paul Adelstein (born April 29, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and his role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the American Broad ...

as ** Bob Bob ** Roberto ** Beach Jock ** Sportscaster ** Lincoln Aide *

Toby Huss Tobias Huss (born December 9, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Artie in the Nickelodeon series '' The Adventures of Pete & Pete'' (1993–1996). He is also known for his voice-over work on the long-running animated series ''K ...

as ** Jerry ** Alejandro ** Beach Jock ** Jerry Turner (Sportcaster) ** Lance *

Miriam Shor Miriam Ruth Shor (born July 25, 1971) is an American actress. She gained prominence for her performance in the Off-Broadway rock musical ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (1998–2000) and in the 2001 film adaptation of the same name. She later sta ...

as ** Carol ** Penthouse Hostess *

Gabriel Casseus Gabriel Casseus (born April 28, 1972) is an American actor from Roosevelt, New York. Biography Casseus was born in New York City and is of Haitian descent. At the age of 23 Casseus was nominated for the 1995 Independent Spirit Award for Best D ...

as Elliot's Cellmate *

Brian Doyle-Murray Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), better known by his stage name Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several films, including ''Caddy ...

as Priest *

Jeff Doucette Jeffrey Doucette (born November 25, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, and director. Doucette toured for years with Ernst Emling as the comedy duo Jeff and Ernst. Doucette has appeared in over 90 films and television shows and written two play ...

as Desk Sergeant *

Aaron Lustig Aaron Lustig (born September 17, 1956) is an American film and television actor. Career He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1997, for Best Supporting Actor on ''The Young and the Restless'' as Tim Reid, whom he has also portrayed on ''The Bold ...

as Synedyne supervisor *

Rudolf Martin Rudolf Martin (born 31 July 1967) is a German actor working mainly in the United States. He first appeared in off-Broadway productions and then moved on to extensive TV and film work. He has made guest appearances on numerous hit television seri ...

as Raoul *

Julian Firth Julian Firth (born 8 January 1961) is an English actor, best known for his roles as troubled inmate Davis in the cinematic version of the film '' Scum'' and as Brother Jerome in the long-running television series '' Cadfael''. Firth has enjoy ...

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...

Production

In April 1997, it was reported that

would write, direct, and co-produce a remake of the 1967 film '' Bedazzled'' for

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

with the approval of the original film's director

Stanley Donen Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 70th Academy Awards, 1998, and the Golden Lion#Golden Lion – Honorary Award, Career Golden Lion ...

, who jointly owned the rights with Fox. In January 1998,

Larry Gelbart Larry Simon Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and author, most famous as a creator and producer of the television series '' M*A*S*H'', and as co-writer of the ...

joined to co-write the script, which, unlike the original film, would feature a female Devil. In November 1999, it was reported that

dropped out of ''

The Wedding Planner ''The Wedding Planner'' is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Adam Shankman, in his feature film directorial debut, written by Pamela Falk and Michael Ellis, and starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. Plot Ambitious Sa ...

'' to play the lead role in ''Bedazzled'' for $10 million, with Fox enthusiastic on working with Fraser again after ''

Monkeybone ''Monkeybone'' is a 2001 American black comedy fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, written by Sam Hamm, produced by Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe, and executive produced by Chris Columbus, Selick, and Hamm. The film combines live ac ...

''. In January 2000,

Elizabeth Hurley Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965) is an English actress and model. Her best-known film roles are Vanessa Kensington in '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997) and as the Devil in '' Bedazzled'' (2000).Frances O'Connor Frances Ann O'Connor (born 12 June 1967) is a British-Australian actress and director. She appears in roles in the films '' Mansfield Park'', '' Bedazzled'', '' A.I. Artificial Intelligence'', '' The Importance of Being Earnest'', and ''Timelin ...

joined the film as co-stars.

Release

Home media

In the United States, ''Bedazzled'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

on March 13, 2001, by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. and also known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment) was a home video distribution arm that distributes films produced by 20th Century Stud ...

Reception

Box office

The film did reasonably well at the box office. It topped British box office sales when it debuted in the UK during the weekend of 10 November 2000, and finished at #2 on its American opening weekend behind the surprise smash hit ''

Meet the Parents ''Meet the Parents'' is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. It stars Ben Stiller as Greg Focker, a nurse who suffers a series of unfortunate events while visiting his girlfriend's paren ...

''.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Hurley's performance was praised, but her attendance of its premiere was met with backlash from the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

because it occurred during a strike it was holding. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 117 reviews, with an average of 5.5/10. The site's general consensus states: "Though it has its funny moments, this remake is essentially a one joke movie with too many flat plots, and not a patch on the superior original." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on reviews from 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Michael Wilmington of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' wrote, disappointedly, that "'Bedazzled' recycled is not the finest hour for Fraser or Hurley—though Fraser, Elliot Richards in this movie, comes closer. It isn't Ramis' finest hour either—though he's one American moviemaker who excels at concept comedies, as he's proved in ''

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day (, , , ; Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a tradition observed regionally in the United States and Canada on February 2 of every year. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if ...

'', and the best parts of the crude and lewd ''

Caddyshack ''Caddyshack'' is a 1980 American sports comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney, and starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight (his final film role), Michael O'Keefe and Bill ...

.'' ''Bedazzled,'' one of the best comic premises ever, should have been duck soup to him." Wilmington's rival, the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

, commented that "the new movie has been directed by Harold Ramis from a screenplay that uses the 1967 film more as inspiration than source. It is lacking in wickedness. It doesn't smack its lips when it's naughty. When its hero sells his soul to the devil, what results isn't diabolical effrontery, but a series of contract negotiations and consumer complaints. This is twice in two weeks (after the

Winona Ryder Winona Laura Horowitz (born ), known professionally as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Having come to attention playing quirky characters in the late 1980s, she achieved success with her more dramatic performances in the 1990s. Ryder's L ...

exorcism movie '' Lost Souls'') that Satan loses on points." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

stated that "as written by Larry Gelbart, director Harold Ramis and Peter Tolan, this 'Bedazzled,' though amusing from moment to moment, is erratic, unfocused and uncertain where it's going. And whenever it gets too insecure about itself, the film falls back, in classic the-devil-made-me-do-it Hollywood fashion, on explosions, gunfights, helicopter stunts, car crashes and computer-generated effects. What should be a drawing-room comedy ends with moments best left to '' Gone in 60 Seconds''."

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Authority control 2000 fantasy films 2000 films 2000 romantic comedy films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films 2000s fantasy comedy films 2000s German films 2000s romantic fantasy films 20th Century Fox films American fantasy comedy films American remakes of British films American romantic comedy films American romantic fantasy films Comedy film remakes The Devil in film English-language fantasy comedy films English-language German films English-language romantic comedy films English-language romantic fantasy films Fantasy film remakes Fictional depictions of Abraham Lincoln in film Films about reincarnation Films about wish fulfillment Films based on the Faust legend Films directed by Harold Ramis Films produced by Harold Ramis Films scored by David Newman (composer) Films with screenplays by Harold Ramis Films with screenplays by Larry Gelbart Films with screenplays by Peter Tolan German fantasy comedy films German romantic comedy films German romantic fantasy films Regency Enterprises films Romance film remakes