Practical Magic (1998)
Average Rating: 4.4/10
Reviews Counted: 55
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 44
Comedy, romance, and humor mix with unsatisfying results.
Average Rating: 3.7/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 14
Comedy, romance, and humor mix with unsatisfying results.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 187,523
Movie Info
Griffin Dunne directed this romantic fantasy adapted from the 1995 Alice Hoffman novel about the Owens family of witches, regarded as outcasts in the town where they live. Aunt Frances (Stockard Channing) and her sister Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) tried to pass on practical magic skills to their nieces, subdued Sally (Sandra Bullock) and fiery Gillian (Nicole Kidman), brought up by the two aunts after their parents died. The aunts concoct spells for the lonely and the lovelorn, but the family's use
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Cast
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Sandra Bullock
Sally Owens -
Nicole Kidman
Gillian Owens -
Dianne Wiest
Aunt Jet -
Stockard Channing
Aunt Frances -
Aidan Quinn
Gary Hallet -
Goran Visnjic
Jimmy -
Evan Rachel Wood
Kylie -
Alexandra Astrip
Antonia -
Mark Feuerstein
Michael -
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All Critics (78) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (44) | DVD (15)
A saga that lacks the courage of its own odd convictions.
Top CriticThe trio of credited writers exhibits a complete failure of imagination!
The movie doesn't seem sure what tone to adopt, veering uncertainly from horror to laughs to romance.
Uneven adaptation of lyrical novel.
A bad sign when the only female in the creative process is Swicord
...applies a layer of Hollywood gloss, sentimentality, and hyperbole to the proceedings.
If nothing else, the screenwriters deserve recognition for the nerve it took to employ what must be the most outrageously lazy writer's device in the history of cinema.
Has something to annoy just about everyone: feminists of either gender, Wiccans, or just people expecting a good movie.
An absolute waste of time.
Hocus pocus without focus.
The film consequently feels anemic and scattered most of the time.
A Halloween movie with amorous themes but is such a hodgepodge that it serves as neither an effective, Charles -Addams- style spoof of the supernatural genre nor a convincing romantic comedy.
So misguided in so many ways that it makes you wonder how such talented and high-profile actors would even get involved in an embarrassing clap-trap like this one.
The most appealing aspect of "Practical Magic," unsurprisingly, is the pairing of Bullock and Kidman, two of the most likable stars around. Both are in terrific form here...
A muddled melange of genres that fails to come up with a distinct identity.
Practically magic, but not quite.
The film creaked to a halt like a 1956 Buick running on fumes!
A big mess!
Light hearted and fun!
Practical Magic, a promising but muddled comedy about sibling witches with, perhaps inevitably, some unthreatening feminism thrown into the mix.
Audience Reviews for Practical Magic
Super Reviewer
Sandra and Kidman are great together and really make you believe they are sisters. The aunts are insane and funny and its great. One of the best Witch movies out there.
Super Reviewer
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- Gillian Owens: He wants me, just me. Everyone would be safe. Just let him take me.
- Sally Owens: Don't die on me, Gilly please, 'cause we're supposed to die together, at the same time. You promised me that, and this is not that day.
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- Gillian Owens: Do you forgive our mother?
- Sally Owens: Sometimes.
- Gillian Owens: Well, you'll never forgive yourself, unless you get up, get dressed and you brush you goddamn teeth, 'cause your breath stinks.
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- Gillian Owens: I hate it here. I wanna go where... where no-one's even heard of us.
- Sally Owens: I feel like I'm never going to see you again.
- Gillian Owens: Of course you're going to see me again. We're going to grow old together. It's gonna be you and me, living in a big house. These two old biddies with all these cats. I mean, I bet we even die in the same day.
- Sally Owens: You swear?
- Gillian Owens: Honey, I need your pocket knife. [cuts her hand and Sally's] My blood, your blood, our blood.
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- Aunt Frances: In this house we have chocolate cake for breakfast, and never bother with silly little things like bedtimes, or brushing our teeth.
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- Kylie: Mom, I'm worried about Antonia. Did you know that she put on her mouse ears and drives around town, all liquored up, NAKED?
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- Gary Hallet: Did you or your sister kill James Angelov?
- Sally Owens: Yeah, a couple of times.
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Movie: ID: 10102 Title: Practical Magic Release Date: 1998-10-16 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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