reflecting on " bedazzled , " a lively comedy about the devil who seeks to possess the soul of a pathetic loser , one sinful thought remains in my mind .
if hell means having to spend an eternity with elizabeth hurley ( who portrays the fiery demon ) , then use that pitchfork and point me the way . with her pouty lips , irresistible british accent , and wild display of haute couture , hurley crackles with naughtiness and fills your mind with temptation .
it 's practically impossible to turn this beelzu - babe down .
her next target is elliot ( brendan fraser ) , a tech support geek who is clumsy , awkward , and just too eager to please .
to aptly picture him , you would have to remember a saturday night live skit featuring " steve the copy guy " who effortlessly irritated his co - workers with his unpolished social skills .
eugene , thus , is loathed and feared by his co - workers , who do their best to stay out of his way .
yet , beyond his annoying mannerisms , he 's a lovable oaf .
he wishes that he could get closer to allison ( frances o'connor ) , a co - worker with whom he is infatuated but who has never taken notice of him .
however , the odds of him getting together with her are about the same as a snowball 's chance in hell .
"
dear god , " he prays .
"
i would give anything to have that girl in my life .
" guess who then shows up ?
she makes an offer that is too hard to refuse .
"
seven utterly fabulous wishes for one piddling little soul .
"
there 's even an escape clause .
if elliot 's wish does n't go exactly the way he likes , he need only ' beep ' her ( one guess as to what the three - digit number is ) and he gets to start over .
the remainder of the film consists of elliot 's various fantasies that incorporate his personal desire to have enormous amounts of wealth , power , fame and allison 's love .
but when he makes sweeping statements such as " i want to be very , very powerful and very , very rich and married to allison "
, he 'll soon learn that the devil is in the details .
for example , ( and we 've seen this several times in the trailers ) , he is granted his wish , but finds out that he 's a columbian drug lord and that allison , while married to him , has her eyes on someone else .
apparently , the devil is just as eager to skew his fantasies as she is to possess his soul .
his other wishes also end up with some strange but funny twist that short - circuits his new life .
soon , elliot wishes that he had never made that deal .
given the mischievous nature of the devil , " bedazzled " has many amusing moments .
a lot of the credit goes to fraser who turns in a great comic performance .
he ably assumes various personas .
his funniest segment is when he wishes that he could be the most sensitive man in the world .
allison becomes so frustrated with him that she practically urges him to take advantage of her .
hurley also heightens the humor quotient , especially in the transitional scenes when fraser waits to start his next wish after bailing out of the previous one .
it 's clear that she 's having a good time with it all .
yet , while the filmmakers work hard at creating funny scenes , they conspicuously avoid developing the allegorical underpinnings between good and evil that could have added more heft to this story .
but that would be playing with fire .
what they 've got works
, so you can easily accept it for the pleasant little comedy that it is .
Output: P