15 Underrated Movie Remakes That Deserve Another Look

Bedazzled: Early-noughties fluff and star vehicle for Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley, right? Well, there’s actually a bit more to it - but you’ve got to go back and take a look for yourselves.

Remaking the 1967 Peter Cook and Dudley Moore version - a film that won’t have meant a whole lot to hip, young millennium audiences - Harold Ramis’ Bedazzled embraces the late-nineties/early-noughties Hollywood trend of fantasy and magical realist rom-com setups (Bruce Almighty; 13 Going On 30; What Women Want) that ask us to suspend our most incredulous disbeliefs in order to elevate conventional romantic plots to a whole other plane.

The film puts Fraser in the shoes of Elliot Richards, a company man who makes a deal with the devil (Hurley) to help him pursue the woman he loves. The device to get there is wishes, and needless to say few of them go to plan.

Now, naturally, this Americanised picture could never live up to Cook/Moore’s cracking British satire, but it arguably never tried to. Ramis used the star power behind his film to get everybody on board, and then directed it into absurdity, with a series of stand-out scenes and set-pieces that throw Fraser and Hurley around the globe and beyond, milking the premise for all its worth. It's an overlooked romp from a master of comedy, and is timeless enough to reward repeat viewing.