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Bedazzled
Year - 2000
Studio - Twentieth Century Fox
Stars - Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley, Frances O'Connor
Director - Harold Ramis
Writing Credits - Larry Gelbart, Harold Ramis, Peter Tolan (screenplay)
Music - David Newman
Synopsis
Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser) is a lonely and well-meaning but boorish technical support representative for a large firm. His fellow employees avoid his attempts to socialize with them. After being rebuffed in an attempt to start a conversation in a bar with co-worker Alison Gardner (Frances O'Connor), Elliott utters, "I'd give anything to go out with Alison," he is approached by a dazzlingly beautiful woman (Elizabeth Hurley), playing pool. She demonstrates her talent by knocking all the balls in the pockets in one shot.
The woman tells Elliot that she is the Devil, and can grant him seven wishes in exchange for his soul. Humoring the "Devil", Elliot says that he wishes for a "Big Mac and a Coke." She grants that wish by accompanying Elliot on a bus to the nearest McDonald's and ordering the burger and Coke, and Elliot pays the tab.
She then takes him to her crowded night club where the patrons treat him as an important celebrity, calling out his name and taking pictures of him. In her office, she produces a thick contract for Elliot to sign. Still dubious, he comments that she doesn't even look like the Devil and she responds by immediately transforming herself into the traditional Devil image, red body with horns and pitchfork. Now convinced, Elliott signs the contract and presents his first wish, to be married to Alison in addition to being rich and powerful.
He is instantly granted his wish, but it not quite as he anticipated. He is "Jefe" a wealthy South American drug lord. He discovers, to his astonishment, that he speaks fluent Spanish. Although he is, indeed, married to Alison, she is openly carrying on an affair with Raoul. When violence breaks out, he barely escapes in time to dial "666" on the pager provided by the Devil to signal his need to return.
As Elliot proceeds to go through the remainder of his wishes, he learns that, no matter how carefully he phrases them, the Devil finds a loophole in their execution. He wishes to be an NBA star basketball player, and becomes a giant scoring machine, who can only talk in sports cliches. But when Alison as a reporter comes to the locker room for an exclusive post-game interview, she discovers that he is not "huge" all over. Elliot attempts to rectify that oversight by specifying in his next wish to be a handsome, famous and "well endowed" intellectual. But he forgets to include that he be heterosexual.
Realizing that the game is fixed, he refuses to make a seventh wish but, when intimidated by the Devil's demonstration of her awesome powers, he blurts out a wish that Alison have a happy life. The Devil informs him that, by making a altruistic wish he has invalidated the contract, and his soul is safe. She is philosophical about it, admitting that she likes Elliot and that it's the first time in 2000 years that this has happened.
Trailer
The film is a remake of the 1967's Bedazzled. It pays homage to the original when Elizabeth Hurley's character is seen leading two large dogs. She calls them "Dudley" and "Peter", a reference to Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.