Akiva Goldsman. If those two words don't strike fear in the hearts of
moviegoers everywhere, I don't know what will. The _Lost_in_Space_ and
_Batman_&_Robin_ scribe is true to sloppy form with _Practical_Magic_, a
muddled melange of genres that fails to come up with a distinct identity.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play Sally and Gillian Owens,
respectively, sisters who carry on the family tradition of witchcraft.
Slutty Gillian loves to use her powers, especially to lure men, while the
reluctant but more powerful witch Sally yearns for a normal life--and a
true love that, according to an apparent curse on all Owens women, can
never come.
After the basic setup, _Practical_Magic_ heads in a number of divergent
directions. The film is being sold as a whimsical lark, and at times the
film is light and agreeable fluff, especially when Sally and Gillian's
proud witch aunts Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Frances (Stockard Channing) are
onscreen. But then there are the sober sister bonding scenes, where Sally
and Gillian, generally teary-eyed, profess their love for and devotion to
each other. Then there's a taste of macabre comedy, where the sisters find
themselves disposing of the body of a man whose death they accidentally
caused. This sets the stage for a romantic subplot between Sally and the
police officer (Aidan Quinn) investigating the man's death. Lest we forget
this is a movie about witches, events take a turn toward straight horror,
with an evil spirit threatening the life of Gillian and everyone and
everything around her.
The all-encompassing scope of _Practical_Magic_ would not be a problem if
these elements blended into a convincing whole; _Ghost_ proved that it is
not an impossible task. But the reason why that film was able to
successfully cover a number of bases was that, for all its genre-hopping,
it had a clearly defined central concern: the undying love between the two
main characters. Goldsman, co-scripters Robin Swicord and Adam Brooks
(adapting Alice Hoffman's novel), and director Griffin Dunne don't appear
to have a central concern other than to try to make the film as many things
as possible to all people. As the film jumps from place to place, so does
one's idea of what the film is exactly about. Witchcraft? Sally's search
for love? Sally and Gillian's relationship? The evil spirit? The Owens
women's "curse"? Anyone's guess is as good as mine.
If the makers of _Practical_Magic_ had kept things simple, it could have
been an amusing little popcorn flick. As in all her films, Bullock is
instantly likable, and Kidman is fun as the wild witch. That said, the two
have little sisterly chemistry, which brings to mind a direction the film
could have taken: the comical feud between two rival sister witches, one
reckless, the other reluctant but more powerful. OK, maybe that's not such
a great idea. But at least it's a clear direction, something the unfocused
_Practical_Magic_ is in constant search of.
