This raucous and rowdy remake of Stanley Donen's 1967 film starring Dudley Moore and Peter Cook plays around with the same Faust-Mephistopheles theme. Only here the Great Mischief Maker is a woman (Elizabeth Hurley) who enjoys the game of trying to win over the souls of some of the planet's 6.2 billion inhabitants.
During a low-energy week, the Devil spots Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser), a nerdy and lonely fellow who is employed as a technical support advisor at a large firm. His coworkers view him as a boring, socially awkward, and overbearing cad. For the most part, they're right. He tries too hard to be cool and misses the mark by a mile.
Elliot's latest obsession is his love for Alison (Frances O'Connor), an attractive woman who works for the same company. When the Devil hears him say that he would do anything to have that woman, she springs into action. In exchange for his immortal soul, our boy gets seven wishes. Plenty of chances to win the woman he loves.
Elliot signs on the dotted line and wishes he could be rich, powerful, and married to Alison. And presto, he's all of the above, except that as a rich Colombian drug dealer his wife is having an affair with another man and his own men are staging a revolt against him. As Elliot zips from one incarnation to the next, the Princess of Darkness trips him up again and again in his wishes to be a sensitive male, a star athlete, and a brilliant writer.
Honking the horn of her flashy sports car in the quiet zone of a hospital, the Evil One is a real troublemaker. Near the end, God puts in a cameo appearance as an African-American cellmate who gives Elliot some good advice.
Harold Ramis directs Bedazzled with a screenplay penned by himself, Peter Tolan, and Larry Gelbart. Call it a slapstick morality play and you wouldn't be far off the mark. But, hey, who can complain? There are plenty of laughs to be found. Elliot's consciousness is raised a notch, the Devil sits down for a game of chess with God, and a new girl moves in next door to Elliot who . . .