The greatest movie ever made..!

Really Surprised!

One of my all time favorites.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

At no time did I laugh during "Bedazzled," other than a few abbreviated chuckles; but, regardless, I immensely enjoyed myself. My lack of laughter cannot be blamed on the film, as I rarely laugh during movies--I'm generally unemotive in all areas of life. But "Bedazzled" isn't the kind of comedy one laughs at; it's more the kind that one smiles at and thinks to himself "that's funny." In the beginning, there's Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore), a fry cook who can't quite get the nerve to ask out a waitress, Margaret, whom he's developed a rather large crush on. He's so skittish around her, one doesn't know if he's sweating from nerves or from the stove. After a botched suicide attempt, Moon is visited by the Devil (Peter Cook)--dressed like Dracula from the neck down, and Roger McGuinn from the neck up. Satan offers Moon seven wishes, which Moon burns through attempting to land a reality where he and the waitress are happily ever after.The film is split up into episodes, essentially, each being one of Moon's misguided wishes. Naturally, some are funnier than others. There are two that stand out as being above the rest: one in which Moon wishes to be a pop star--so Margaret will love him, flawless logic-- but is quickly brushed aside for the next big thing, which happens to be a psychedelic, pseudo-intellectual poetry reading. In the other, Moon is not specific enough in his request, yet again, and ends up a female nun who's attained the homosexual affection of Margaret, another nun. Moore and Cook--also the film's two writers--are great in their respective roles and have a innate chemistry. A lot of actors have played the Devil, and in many different ways, but I'm partial to Cook's approach: a calm, flighty sociopath. And a lesser film would have made Moore's apprehensive Moon the butt of joke after joke, but rather, he's played and written with care and consideration--which makes the conclusion to the film work.As funny as the film is, the concept runs out of steam after about an hour and begins repeating itself. Also, the philosophical babble about man, God and Satan wears thin, as the ideas don't go beyond anything you or I have though up in those twilight moments before falling asleep--assuming you're like me and ponder such things aimlessly. A high-concept comedy, "Bedazzled" is charming, sometimes interesting and home to a combination of denser-than-usual humor and nuns bouncing on trampolines. However, it runs its joke into the ground, just managing to resurface slightly before the finish line. God is good, and so is this movie.

When I saw the Fraser/Hurley version at the cinemas in 2000 I had no idea it was a remake. This, the original version from 1967 blends classic British comedy with pre-Pythonesque humour.Peer Cook tries to swindle Dudley Moore out of his soul by giving him seven wishes. The wishes all go wrong with varying degrees of amusement. I only burst out laughing once when Dudley is transformed into a nun. In between the wishes Rachael Welsh teases us as Lust while other familiar faces pass the camera before we've realised who they are. We sympathise with both the main characters. Will Dudley get his girl or will he live out his life in a habit? Will God take back Cook or will he just have a laugh?It's very entertaining and stands up well against the remake. Not unmissable but worth your time.

Sadly, my first encounter with the Bedazzled movies was watching the unfortunate Liz Hurley remake. I was a teen at the time and Liz Hurley was one of the 'It' girls of the day (the days of Austin Powers and Serving Sara). I loved the idea, and loved Hurley's devil, but that was pretty much it. I never could stand Brendan Frazer and it always pains me to watch him. A couple of years later, I came across the original Pete & Dud film and I fell in love. The story is pretty much the same. It's 1967, Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore) has a dead end job as a Wimpy's cook and is hopelessly in love with waitress Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron). Unable to muster the courage to ask her out, he attempts suicide but is stopped by George Spiggot aka. the Devil (Peter Cook), who grants him seven wishes in exchange for his soul. Moon agrees and all his wishes are fixated on winning Margaret's heart, however each wish is altered (courtesy of Mr Spiggot).The movie's strongest point is its' screenplay, incredibly witty and brilliantly blasphemous at the same time. The screenplay is taken to another level with Cook and Moore's undeniable chemistry, and Cook's devil is cultured, smart, charming, very English and deliciously mean. Eleanor Bron is brilliant as the many incarnations of Margaret Spencer, playing each version with comedic brilliance. Raquel Welch, despite appearing for under 10 minutes throughout the film, gives an unforgettable performance as Lillian Lust, one of the personified seven sins. Equally unforgettable is Barry Humphries as the delightfully camp Envy who also makes an incredibly brief appearance.A more personal reason why I love this film is that I love the Sixties. This movie is essentially a time capsule of 1967, set in Swinging London - technically the epicentre of the decade's cultural movement. Perhaps unknowingly, the movie's makers portrayed everything wonderful about 1967 in just over 90 minutes. The London scenery, the cars, the Pete & Dud chemistry, the fashions, the sexuality, hippies, Julie Andrews... the movie has it all. But perhaps the ultimate 60's moment in this film is Stanley's pop star wish. He is transported to a TV studio in the style of 'Ready, Steady, Go' or 'Top of the Pops' where his and Cook's performances are performed/filmed in the most 60's way possible: a crude elevated stage,a dancing teenage fan audience, leggy go-go girls, B&W screens with 60's TV effects, unusual/long band names a-la-1967 (Drimble Wedge & the Vegetation) and the very groovy titular song, composed by Moore and performed brilliantly by Cook.I absolutely loved this film. I'm not sure if this movie will cater for everyone's tastes, but if you're into Pete & Dud, British wit, clever screenplays or the Sixties in general, then this movie is definitely worth watching.

A rather subversive little (slightly black) comedy, but not because of its support for hippies, but due to its demolishing of what constitutes the essence of Christian belief. The movie is at its best not during the materialization of Dudley's seven (well, six) wishes but during all the segments in-between. The dialogue between Dudley and Satan in these scenes is what won me over, and it's during these bits that Christianity, and religious belief in general perhaps, is taken apart with obvious joy by the writer. The mockery might be too subtle for the dimmer viewers, hence a believer of lower intelligence could enjoy "Bedazzled" without getting annoyed or upset. Although, a remark such as the one about a priest being "on our side" (Satan) might be a little too direct, and might reveal the film-makers' intentions even to the very unobservant viewer. Either way, I can imagine that the movie must have upset quite a few people back in the day.The great irony, of course, is that this movie's portrayal and description of God is very accurate, i.e. quite in accordance with how He comes off in the Great Book. A point, however, that will be totally lost on (the more fanatical) believers.Dudley refers to hippies as "those wonderful flower people" right after Satan targets them with a prank. What can one say to that? This was 1967, after all, an extremely naive and (comparatively) innocent period in the history of Western civilization. For all intents and purposes - at least to the lazier and more optimistic minds living at that time - hippies might have appeared to be that which they hypocritically tried to make everyone believe they were. If the movie had been intellectually fool-proof, which it isn't unfortunately but predictably (very few are), instead of glorifying hippies it would have placed them firmly on Satan's side, due to their abundantly obvious (perhaps with a little hindsight) penchant for indulging in at least half of the Seven Deadly Sins: lust, vanity, and sloth. (Hey, nothing wrong with lust; I am merely using the movie's religious-based logic.) Speaking of which, Raquel Welch has a bit part as Devil's servant Lust. She seemed to be rather confused about the accent she was supposed to use. I could have sworn she started off with an English accent but then somehow managed to slip into a light Southern twang. The director Donen probably didn't even try to correct her; he must have figured there was no use, not in a million takes. Or perhaps he'd given up AFTER the million takes. When Dudley's head is shoved onto her ample bossom, that might have been the first ever film sequence with a man resting his head on a pair of fake breasts. Just a thought.There are nice little touches of insanity, such as the notion that the Devil had lost his touch somewhat, being reduced to performing minor acts of "sabotage" such as corrupting pidgens into crapping onto people's heads or performing trivial acts of fraud against little old ladies. Although the in-between segments are the funniest, there is much hilarity in some of the wish-segments too, the funniest being when Satan cons Dudley into becoming a lesbian nun. That entire monastery bit is the film's absolute highlight.What really makes this comedy work most, apart from a meticulously prepared script, is without a doubt Dudley's excellent, totally spot-on nailing of the character. He plays him perfectly. The way he looks at people, the way he talks, plus his mannerisms and body language, all these are ideal for the portrayal of this fairly dimwitted Joe Shmoe loser. Occasionally Dudley says something a little too intelligent for his character, but that's forgivable in a comedy, i.e. plot-devices that advance a joke or gag are acceptable even if they stray from the established logic somewhat.I haven't seen a comedy this funny in years (apart from "Borat" and "Bruno"), but I am not too surprised given that Stanley Donen directed it. He had actually managed to turn a MUSICAL into a funny movie years earlier with "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers", so if he could do that he could do a lot more.