Bedazzled

Details

Elliot is a sweet-natured guy who is eager to please but lives a lonely and friendless life. He works as a technical advisor at a call centre and has had a crush on fellow employee Alison Gardner for nearly four years. His co-workers barely tolerate him and, although he fails to realise it, Elliot never gets invited to any of their parties or after-work drinks.

One evening after work he meets some of his colleagues who, eager to get rid of him, encourage him to finally talk to Alison. Elliot agrees and attempts to strike up a conversation, but she quickly rejects him, leaving him wishing that she could somehow be part of his life. His wish is heard and the Devil appears in the form of a beautiful woman with a tempting offer.

In return for his soul, the Devil offers Elliot seven wishes. Although suspicious at first, he is soon drawn under her spell when he sees visions of himself with Alison. Naturally, when dealing with the Devil things never quite work out as planned. His wishes to be rich and powerful, sensitive, famous and intelligent all fail to win Alison over, and it soon begins to look like Elliot may have to rely on his real personality instead - the trouble is, the Devil still wants his soul.

Picture & Sound

For a THX-certified disc the picture can be surprisingly disappointing. With the Devil being associated with red, Elizabeth Hurley spends much of the film dressed in vibrant red outfits (and at times not much else!), which often produces noticeable outlining. At times it even appears as if Hurley and Fraser have been superimposed onto the background. Despite this, the image is generally bright and sharp with a consistently high bit-rate and only occasional imperfections.

The soundtrack is fairly uninspiring, with only occasional use of the surround channels when Elliot begins or ends one of his wishes. However, dialogue remains crystal clear in the centre channel without any noticeable bleeding, and there was never any need to constantly adjust the volume.

Menu & Extras

The menu, rather than being a grandly animated affair, offers something a little more inventive. There are a number of different animated and scored "skins" depending on which of the four wishes from the film you select. It's a novel idea, although it somewhat contradicts the Fox trailer at the start of the disc which proudly advertises their state-of-the-art 3D animated menus.

The extras are above average, with the usual set of trailers and an HBO "making of" featurette. There are also two audio commentaries with director Harold Ramis, which provide excellent insight into the production. A second commentary features Elizabeth Hurley and producer Trevor Albert, although Hurley contributes very little while Albert repeatedly tries to coax her into saying more.

This disc is also one of the first to include additional features for Nuon-enhanced players, which, as usual, were only available on a small number of American DVD players. The Nuon functionality allows compatible players to access extra features including character studies, zoomed-in scene details and an enhanced gallery of concept art and set design stills. Whether this technology would ever become popular enough to reach Europe was always questionable.

Overall

All in all this is a rather good DVD package which helps compensate for what is ultimately an average film. However, there is one disappointing omission. During Harold Ramis' superb commentary he frequently mentions scenes that were deleted, including an entire wish scenario that never made the final cut. The obvious question is: why weren't these included as extras on the disc? If you're going to tell us about them, you might as well show them.

Finally, with Elizabeth Hurley appearing in enough nurse, police officer and teacher outfits to satisfy most male fantasies, one simple question remains: Hugh, just what the hell were you thinking!?

Special features

• Commentary by Director Harold Ramis
• Commentary by Elizabeth Hurley and Trevor Albert
• HBO Making of Featurette
• Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots
• Still Gallery
• Scoring Sessions
• Bedazzling Designs with Deena Appel
• THX Certified with Optimode
• Nuon-Enhanced