Bewitched

A new version of the 1964-1972 sitcom will star a fading movie star (Will Ferrell) who thinks he can ride roughshod over his unknown leading lady (Nicole Kidman). What he doesn’t know is that she’s a real witch and won’t take his treachery lying down. Director Nora Ephron and her co-writer sister Delia have a nifty premise for their version of the old show, but they haven’t done much to develop it. The movie is pleasant, easy-going, often charming and occasionally hilarious, but with an unsettling air of amiably going nowhere. Still, the series wasn’t a very promising source, and we should be grateful the movie is as good as it is. Kidman gets to indulge her terrific, little-used flair for comedy, meshing nicely with the frantic Ferrell and debonair Michael Caine as her warlock father.