Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Hattie
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Delight
Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
SnoopyStyle
Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore) is a short order cook secretly infatuated with waitress Margaret (Eleanor Bron). He prays to God for the strength to speak to her. In desperation, he tries to hang himself and fails. The Devil (Peter Cook) comes to him instead. He is given seven wishes for his soul. Only his wishes aren't as simple as he hopes.It's not the first time that I got tricked by a DVD cover. I assumed that Raquel Welch would be the female lead. I don't know much about Eleanor Bron but I would definitely prefer Welch who has a minor role as one of the Seven deadly sins, Lust. Overall, there are a few laughs. It tries to be clever. I would be nice to have a bigger role for Margaret. She is more of an object rather than a full character. The idea is cute with some promise. Some of this works more than others.
tomsview
This is one of the most original and funny comedies ever. There is a touch of genius about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's "Bedazzled".In order to buy his soul, the very low rent Devil, George Spiggott (Peter Cook), grants hapless Wimpy short order chef Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore) seven wishes. Stanley is happy to sell his soul in order to have Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron), the waitress he is obsessed with, return his love - or even to notice him.I was surprised to learn that the film didn't do all that well in Britain when it was released; Pete and Dud's shift away from their well-known TV personas didn't catch on at first. However that wasn't the problem at the theatre in Sydney where I saw it in 1967; the place was packed and rocked with laughter as Stanley blew his raspberries.Nostalgia plays a huge part in the way we view movies and maybe it was easy to relate to Dudley Moore's Stanley Moon who didn't feel he was getting his fair share of the Swinging Sixties. In reality, Dudley Moore had no trouble attracting women; he even married Suzy Kendall and Tuesday Weld - at different times of course.According to Henry Thompson's "Peter Cook: A Biography", life imitated art and vice versa when it came to the making of "Bedazzled" including Dudley actually developing a crush on Eleanor Bron. More tellingly, Peter Cook's screenplay reflected the rather unequal relationship between he and Dudley Moore. It seems Dudley actually copped more sarcasm off-screen from Peter than he did on-screen and eventually broke away to have a solo career in Hollywood.Peter Cook rarely showed anger in his skits or comedy sketches. Totally deadpan, his characters patiently explain things to other characters who seem obtuse or a bit thick - often played by Dudley Moore. There is superiority and condescension, but rarely aggression. The famous "One Legged Tarzan" sketch is the classic example. In "Bedazzled", George Spiggott, the Evil One, is polite, patient and reassuring with Stanley although he tricks him at every turn.Despite the ups and downs of their lives, "Bedazzled" captures Pete and Dud forever at the top of their form; they thought it up, starred in it and Dudley even composed the music - for me, it's a masterpiece.
Hunter Lanier
At no time did I laugh during "Bedazzled," other than a few abbreviated chuckles; but, regardless, I immensely enjoyed myself. My lack of laughter cannot be blamed on the film, as I rarely laugh during movies--I'm generally unemotive in all areas of life. But "Bedazzled" isn't the kind of comedy one laughs at; it's more the kind that one smiles at and thinks to himself "that's funny." In the beginning, there's Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore), a fry cook who can't quite get the nerve to ask out a waitress, Margaret, whom he's developed a rather large crush on. He's so skittish around her, one doesn't know if he's sweating from nerves or from the stove. After a botched suicide attempt, Moon is visited by the Devil (Peter Cook)--dressed like Dracula from the neck down, and Roger McGuinn from the neck up. Satan offers Moon seven wishes, which Moon burns through attempting to land a reality where he and the waitress are happily ever after.The film is split up into episodes, essentially, each being one of Moon's misguided wishes. Naturally, some are funnier than others. There are two that stand out as being above the rest: one in which Moon wishes to be a pop star--so Margaret will love him, flawless logic-- but is quickly brushed aside for the next big thing, which happens to be a psychedelic, pseudo-intellectual poetry reading. In the other, Moon is not specific enough in his request, yet again, and ends up a female nun who's attained the homosexual affection of Margaret, another nun. Moore and Cook--also the film's two writers--are great in their respective roles and have a innate chemistry. A lot of actors have played the Devil, and in many different ways, but I'm partial to Cook's approach: a calm, flighty sociopath. And a lesser film would have made Moore's apprehensive Moon the butt of joke after joke, but rather, he's played and written with care and consideration--which makes the conclusion to the film work.As funny as the film is, the concept runs out of steam after about an hour and begins repeating itself. Also, the philosophical babble about man, God and Satan wears thin, as the ideas don't go beyond anything you or I have though up in those twilight moments before falling asleep--assuming you're like me and ponder such things aimlessly. A high-concept comedy, "Bedazzled" is charming, sometimes interesting and home to a combination of denser-than-usual humor and nuns bouncing on trampolines. However, it runs its joke into the ground, just managing to resurface slightly before the finish line. God is good, and so is this movie.
kenjha
Having worked as a comedy team on television, Cook and Moore took their inspired brand of comedy to the big screen in the mid 1960s. This was arguably their greatest success. It's a clever takeoff on the Faust legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchanges for knowledge and worldly pleasures. In this instance, Moore is a short order cook who is granted seven wishes by Cook, the devil. Of course, all the wishes go hilariously awry. Some of the episodes are funnier than others but it's all quite amusing. Bron is delightful as the woman of Moore's dreams. Welch is appropriately cast as Lillian Lust, one of Cook's assistants. This turned out to be the last good film of Donen's.
