I found the 2000 remake of this film with Brendan Fraser rather fun in a fluffy way. However, having now seen the original, the remake seems like sugary angel cake compared to this delicious devil's food treat.
Dudley Moore stars as Stanley Moon, a short-order cook who longs for the waitress Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron, TWO FOR THE ROAD). Depressed with his dead-end life, Stanley decides to commit suicide, however he can't even succeed at that. In comes George Spiggott (i.e. The Devil) (Peter Cook, SUPERGIRL), who offers Stanley seven wishes in turn for his soul. Stanley takes the offer, but seems to be thwarted with each wish by the crafty Satan, who always puts unexpected obstacles in the way of Stanley's efforts to win Margaret's heart.
Written by Moore and Cook, the film relies heavily on: dry, witty dialogue; lots of devilish irony; and great performances from the leads. The plot is really an excuse to string various comedic skits together, however the quality of each section and the way they're strung together makes the film work.
Moore makes us care about his sad sack Stanley and Cook is wonderfully mischievous, causing minor little doses of mayhem throughout the film. He truly proves that it’s a shaky proposition to make a deal with the devil. Helping Spiggott lead Stanley afoul are the seven deadly sins — the most memorable being Lilian Lust (Raquel Welch, ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.), who serves Stanley breakfast one morning in a skimpy bikini. Sometimes the seven deadly sins characters are woven in ingeniously and at other times they seemed forced in, especially the late appearance of Envy (Barry Humphries, TV's THE DAME EDNA EXPERIENCE).
Some sequences run a bit too long, but none of them ever wears out its welcome. The sequences I liked the best were the one where Stanley is rich and married to Margaret, the one where he is a pop star, the one where Margaret adores him and the final wish when Stanley believes he has finally found a way to outwit the devil. Some of the funniest moments come in between the wish segments when Spiggott is doing devious pranks like making pigeons poop on people and scratching new records for people to buy. With most modern comedies seemingly targeted toward dumb teens, it's quite refreshing to find a film this funny that contains a literate script and was made for smart people.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
