Blithe Spirit

Starring: Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, et al.

Product Description

Best-selling crime novelist Charles (Dan Stevens) suffers from terrible writer's block and is struggling to finish his first screenplay. His picture-perfect new wife Ruth (Isla Fisher) is doing her best to keep him focused so they can fulfill her dream of leaving London for Hollywood. Charles' quest for inspiration leads him to invite the eccentric mystic Madame Acarti (Judi Dench) to perform a seance in his home. He gets more than he bargained for when Madame Acarti inadvertently summons the spirit of his first wife: the brilliant and fiery Elvira (Leslie Mann). Ready to pick up her life right where she left off, Elvira is shocked to discover the prim and proper Ruth is now married to her husband and running her household. Charles finds himself stuck between his two wives and their increasingly over-the-top attempts to outdo one another in this lethally hilarious comedy.

• Format: DVD
• UPC: 826663219852
• Release Date: January 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Publisher: IFC Films
• Director: Edward Hall
• Starring: Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Michele Dotrice, Dave Johns, Emilia Fox, Zach Wyatt, Romina Zapata, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Adil Ray
• Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Do not try to compare this cartoon to the Margaret Rutherford and Rex version.

Right from the beginning, you can see that this is more of a cartoon version of the play. Everyone tries too hard to be campy, as if the play cannot hold its own without kooky characters. A lot of the scenes are of secondary importance and miss the point of the play. The one thing that makes the play and previous movies work is that the main characters are normal, and the medium is strange but does not know it. In this version, the medium is just ineffective most of the time, and the other characters are outlandish, ridiculous, and stupid. In 1937, writer Charles Condomine (Dan Stevens) has writer's block. He sees an opportunity to regain his abilities by learning a few tricks from a fallen medium. Tossing in jokes about playing tennis and problems with creative appendages has nothing to do with the thrust of the play. Judy Dench plays it fairly straight and is the only one not quirky. Where was the strength in the Margaret Rutherford version? With a few exceptions. O.K., a lot of exceptions (including the ending), the general premise is followed. There are added trash scenes to dumb it down. It never gets over being a road runner-type cartoon. Of all the versions, this is the worst so far and not worth the time it takes to watch. The DVD has an extra where Judy Dench and others try and fail to justify the movie. I had to play the other version immediately to get the bad taste out.