Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Blake Peterson
What if The Devil were a smartass, lanky British dude instead of an unspeakably evil fire-monster? What if God wasn't a bearded Abercrombie & Fitch model but an invisible, booming disembodied voice who likes to maniacally cackle in his spare time? What if Lust, one of the seven deadly sins, was embodied by the curvaceous Raquel Welch? What if … okay, okay, I've given you plenty of what-ifs to let your imaginations run wild; now, wrap all those what-ifs into a profitable ball of madcap comedic energy and you'll get Bedazzled, one of the finest comedies of the last 50 years.It isn't funny haha like Airplane!, you might say, and it isn't trying to say something like the socially conscious Sullivan's Travels; Bedazzled is a collection of clever quips and dryly funny performances glued together with an insanely ingenious storyline that hits you with the force of a sexy wink from Linda Evangelista. It isn't anything other than consistently wicked and consistently engaging; yet comedy in the 1960s seems to be most attributed to Peter Sellers' greatest vehicles. But The Pink Panther series has its limits; Bedazzled, on the other hand, seems limitless. It may be tongue-in-cheek in its attitudes towards soul selling and heaven and hell's tricky relationship, but it is overtly serious when it comes to being unpredictable and quick. To call it underrated would be an understatement.Dudley Moore, always an under-appreciated comedic talent, portrays Stanley Moon, a hapless fry cook hopelessly in love with his coworker, the lovely Margaret (Eleanor Bron). He has kept his feelings secret for years, and, too nervous to do anything about them, finally decides that he's much too miserable in life to continue going on. So, he ties a noose to his apartment's pipe, jumps, and … well, the pipe breaks. But fear not; just as Stanley is about to lose hope once again, The Devil himself (Peter Cook) appears at his door, offering a sinful deal: if he grants Stanley seven wishes, then he, in return, will collect the poor man's soul. Stanley doesn't even hesitate - what does he have to lose? - and indeed goes through with The Devil's plan. All his wishes revolve around capturing Margaret's attention, but as The Bible has told us several times, you can't just trust the most vile force in the universe.Like Sellers in Doctor Strangelove, Moore is given the chance to try on several personas and see where they go; when he wishes for eloquence in hopes to seduce Margaret with his mind, he adopts a smooth attitude and an intellectual Welsh accent to back himself up. When he asks The Devil to give him the swagger of a rock star, he really turns into a rock star, singing with the charisma of Roger Daltrey. Moore is so insanely versatile that awe is the only emotion that seems to come out of us; the fluctuations in his performances are so subtle that you have to remind yourself just how much talent it takes to switch characterizations back and forth so many times in a single movie.But if I've made the film sound like a fantasy romp with a stellar performance at its core, that only scratches the surface. Cook, as much as Moore, can spit out adept pieces of dialogue with the wit of the most seasoned of comedians (an increasingly impressive feat considering much of the film is improvised), and Stanley Donen, most known for his musical features (Singin' in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) keeps up with the forward thinking ideals of filmmaking in the 1960s, providing Bedazzled with a solid foundation while also giving it room to go off- the-rails when it needs to. Films like Bedazzled work so well not just because of the talent involved; they work so well because everything they do is funny, existing in a parallel universe comprised of remarkably backwards humor. Along with Raquel Welch's sex appeal, it hasn't aged a bit.Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com
kenjha
Having worked as a comedy team on television, Cook and Moore took their inspired brand of comedy to the big screen in the mid 1960s. This was arguably their greatest success. It's a clever takeoff on the Faust legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchanges for knowledge and worldly pleasures. In this instance, Moore is a short order cook who is granted seven wishes by Cook, the devil. Of course, all the wishes go hilariously awry. Some of the episodes are funnier than others but it's all quite amusing. Bron is delightful as the woman of Moore's dreams. Welch is appropriately cast as Lillian Lust, one of Cook's assistants. This turned out to be the last good film of Donen's.
Neil Welch
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore worked together in a variety of media for a long time. Their double act was extremely successful on stage and TV (and also on long playing record) where the sketch format was used: this format suited them. Their movie work was far less successful, and I suspect that a large part of this was because what worked in sketches was much more difficult to sustain for a whole movie.The first joy of Bedazzled is that, like Monty Python's Holy Grail, it pulls off the trick of hanging a series of sketches in a linking narrative so that the fact that it is, essentially, a feature length sketch show is cleverly disguised.The second joy is that the linking narrative - an updating of Faust, whereby Dudley Moore's loser griddle cook is put through the mincer by Peter Cook's amiable but merciless devil - works perfectly, as do most of the episodes illustrating Moore's wishes.Although this is very much a product of the era in which it was made, it is still a very good film, and repays the time spent in watching it.
michael-heathcote3
This film has been described as a time capsule by others, and in a way, regarding life in the 60s it is that. But the humour and devastating wit of this piece is as timeless as you can get. Cook was the Oscar Wilde of his day, incredibly witty, clever and arrogant, and his screenplay here is choc-full of devilishly clever and funny lines, together with some alarmingly good visual gags. Not one of them has a hint of overkill, every single one is underplayed and this should be a lesson to all comedy scriptwriters, directors and performers working today, as subtlety is certainly not the byword of 'noughties' comedy. His delivery is spot on, as always, his presence on screen always sparkling. For a laid back performer PC had enormous magnetism that just drew you in to his persona, with his fascinating face always hinting of mystery and naughtiness behind the boyish, arrogant, almost uninterested looking half smirk he seemed to wear, that some people including partner DM thought was a bit superior and demeaning of lesser souls. But lets face it, next to Cook almost everyone was of lesser talent, especially creative talent and wit.That Moore and Bron even managed not to fade into the background with Peter Cook on such scintillating form would be a tribute to their performances, but as the screenplay dictates, much of the narrative revolves around their scenes together (with Cook coming in as the killjoy raspberry just to prick poor old Stanley Moon's balloon). I've never seen Moore as good as this, and Bron shows what an underused talent she was. Yet at the end of this highly creative masterpiece of film satire it is one person's name that stands out way above the others. This is the very best of a brilliant comedian and still represents the benchmark of film satire and observational wit.
