Word: magically
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Girls, break out your jammies, curlers and slam books--it's slumber party time! You'll be inviting a break-up if you drag your boyfriend to this flick, and you would be wasting your money to see it in the theater. Practical Magic is one to see with the chicks, if you can bear it, (no guys, Kidman and Bullock don't bare it, this one is rated PG-13). Dreamier than The Craft, Practical Magic is also more childlike, lacking the rebelliousness which previous witch movies have cultivated...
Sisters Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) Owens are born into a family of witches who practice white magic. Good witch Sally tries to fit into a small New England town, while Gillian looks for love in all the wrong places while trying out her magical powers. The familial curse is that a man who loves one of the Owens' witches will meet an untimely death, as Gillian's abusive boyfriend Jimmy (Goran Visnjic) does at the hands of Bullock, accidentally on purpose...
This movie was not even given the benefit of bitchiness that The Craft had going for it. Where Neve Campbell and company reveled in their magic, Bullock tries to repress it, downplaying her powers in order to fit in. Kidman does her best to portray the bad girl who uses her magic for fun, but such a sickly sweet Bullock offsets her. Kidman walks into Bullock's attempts to create a normal life in smalltown New England, saying things like, "Hang on to your husbands, ladies." But we end up feeling sorry for Kidman instead of rejoicing in her power...
...DiCaprio or, for the older set, Cary Grant. Still, the filmmakers do their best to convince us he is still worthy of the love of sexy Bullock. His performance was not all that bad, but given such cheesy gimmicks as the use of his sheriff's star as a magic talisman, he has little to do but work on his Wayne impression...
While Practical Magic initially left me with a smile, it quickly turned to that stomachache you get after eating too much candy. The sight of Bullock and Kidman in a semi-lesbian erotic scene may arouse some, but eventually, it is just one more cheap trick to keep us in our seats. To give the flick a little credit, it never promises to be Citizen Kane, and it provides some good laughs and a feelgood finale. If you want a brain-candy slumber party movie, rent Practical Magic, by all means. Just don't expect it to work any magic...