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Customer Reviews of The Witches of Eastwick

An entertaining exploration into the true nature of evil
The film "The Witches of Eastwick" attempts to answer two questions which have troubled humanity for thousands of years. The first question is "What is the nature of evil?" and the second is "Can human beings triumph over evil, whatever it is?" While there are flaws and inconsistensies, I enjoyed watching the film as it explored these issues. <
>In this film, three friends (Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer) are "without men" for various reasons (death, desertion, and divorce), and hang out together to entertain themselves. It is shown that when they all wish for the same thing, their wishes reinforce one another and come true (although they are not aware of this). The film generally takes a traditional, and somewhat patriarchal view, that magic generally attracts evil. During one particular evening, they discuss what qualities they would like their "dream man" to have, and the next day, he appears in town, in the form of Jack Nicholson, aka Daryl Van Horn, who says he was "drawn" to Eastwick. Once one has, for the purpose of being entertained, suspended disbelief in such a being of pure evil who leads people into "sin", it seems reasonable that, if such a being did manifest themselves, they might actually be something like Daryl Van Horn, who manifests all of the traditional "seven deadly sins" i.e. lust, gluttony, sloth, envy, etc. <
>The town of Eastwick, as depicted in the film, is very idyllic, almost a "Garden of Eden", that is, until Daryl shows up. He soon seduces the three friends, somehow knowing exactly the right things to say to them. Suddenly, the good people of the town become gossips, involving themselves in the lives of the three friends, porn magazines begin showing up on the shelves at the newstand, and the relationship of the three friends to Daryl becomes common knowledge. The most striking change takes place in the character of one of the towns leading citizens, Felicity Alden (played by Veronica Cartwright). As soon as she learns of Daryls presence in town, she begins to experience uneasyness, which progresses to broken bones, screaming fits, drooling food from her mouth, slanderous accusations against the three friends, an extremely bi-polar personality, and other unpleasant side effects, including her eventual demise at the hands of her long-suffering husband. <
>The three friends realize what is happening and resolve to not only resist Daryl, but to defeat him. First they shut him out of their lives, with discouraging results, as he knows their deepest fears, and uses these against the friends. However, they then use his own desires to work their way back into his good graces, using their own powers to degrade and ultimately defeat him, in a very humorous manner. <
>I would expect that anyone who sincerely believes in the existence of an actual devil would enjoy seeing him so resoundingly whipped. <
>The two questions are answered as the film unfolds. The nature of evil is identified when, at one point during the film, Daryl asks the townspeople if God made a mistake in creating women (patriarchal attitude showing through here). He then explicity defines "evil" for everyone as "when people make mistakes", and contrasts that to Gods mistakes, which he defines as "nature". So, the nature of evil is essentially defined in the film, not as a corporeal devil, but as people making mistakes, or incorrect choices. Daryl is here essentially admitting that he is nothing more than a personification of the sum total of all the improper choices which people sometimes make. Evil exists because people sometimes choose wrongly. <
>The second question is answered as the viewer is shown that people can CHOOSE to turn away from evil (whatever one believes evil to be) and ultimately succeed, although not neccessarily without effort. In other words, correct choices can be made, rather than incorrect choices. So the final message of the film is an encouraging one, namely that evil CAN be conquered. <
>"The Witches of Eastwick", and other movies about witches, such as "Practical Magic" and "The Craft", require one to suspend belief in natural laws, and accept the premise that, ok, some people are special and DO have certain powers. Once this premise is accepted, anything is possible, and the films can be quite entertaining. <
>In this film, Daryl has supernatural abilities, but only up to a certain degree, and this is the first clue that he isn't an actual being, but representative of something else. He can harm others at a distance, can magically control the flight of a tennis ball, and can even levitate people. However, when the girls want bagels and ice cream, he cannot produce them magically, but must drive into town to go shopping. He apparantly cannot magically teleport himself from downtown Eastwick back to his residence, but must drive his car. He is also not immune to the magical efforts of the three friends, who can also make things happen through simultaneous application of their willpower (similar to the "power of three" frequently shown on the television show "Charmed"). Daryl himself admits that he "only wants peoples attention and respect", thus revealing the true source of his influence and power, and explaining why his powers are so limited. If he were meant to be understood as a real being, his powers would be much greater. But because he is an representation for the mistakes which people make, his powers do have definite limits, and they become weaker as people learn to make fewer mistakes. <
>The films answer regarding the nature of evil highlights the primary failing of the alternative, traditional answer. Namely, if an actual supernatural entity were responsible for the existence of evil, then humans are not reasonably accountable for their evil actions. The films answer to the second question shows that the contemporary view is the correct one, i.e. rather than blaming evil on "the devil", humans are shown to be free moral agents with the ability to choose their course, which places blame where it belongs, on the person performing the "evil" action, rather than on an invisible "devil". <
>The word "witch" is a charged word in western culture, and centuries of misinformation have led people to have certain expectations. As a result, any movie about witches has a daunting task: In order to prevent viewers from being disappointed, the film must provide viewers with what they expect, regardless of how far from the truth it may stray. <
>The unfortunate people who were actually charged with being "witches" in the medievel period were accused of, and confessed to, amazing things which defy common sense, let alone scientific and physical laws. Of course, most people WOULD confess to just about anything if, for example, a red hot piece of iron were being held against their body, over and over again. It is safe to say that no one ever really flew on a broom, or turned anyone into a toad, or had sex with Satan. Ever. The people who were accused of such things were usually women, usually older and without a husband, and often had some property which automatically defaulted to the Church upon their death. Often, they were "healers" who used their knowledge of herbs to cure sickness and ease discomforts, or midwives who helped deliver children at a time when there were few doctors available. <
>Taken as a whole, "The Witches of Eastwick" is entertaining and to a great degree, an accurate reflection of human nature. Some other reviewers have claimed that the acting was poor, but I believe that they are confusing their own dislike of the content with poor acting. I found that the acting was completely believeable, and have in fact known many people who behaved exactly like some of the characters in the film. How much more realistic can acting be? And some of the poor reviews are a result of the viewer either not understanding exactly what they were seeing, or understanding, but refusing to accept the films message. This is a film, not to be viewed as a literal historical event, but at another level, with understanding that what one sees on screen is actually representative of something deeper. Those who enjoyed other movies with supernatural themes such as "Practical Magic" would probably enjoy "The Witches of Eastwick".

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Absolute Filth
If only I could rate this stinker much lower. <
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>So it was family movie night, and my Mom unwittingly picked this to be our movie because it was in the Halloween pile at Walmarts. I was ready for fun and adventure, so what did we actually see? <
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>It starts out like Desperate House Witches who don't know they have powers, and they all sit around in a house talking about their lusts, fantasies, and what size they prefer. Right from that moment I started feeling uncomfortable watching this with mom and dad. I asked to not watch anymore, but they wanted to ride it out. <
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>Then, their lusts bring in this freak played by Jack N. who nobody knows who he is, except for this one Christian lady who said his name and then was tossed down a flight of stairs (later on, she dies in a malevolent way). I again asked for it to be stopped, but Mom was interested to find out if the witches will discover their power. <
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>Then each of the three witches sleep with this guy one at a time and all end up living in the huge mansion. Absolutely disgusting! <
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>Then more happens of this same nature, but I will reveal no more as I may reveal crucial plot points. HA HA! As if there was one. Hardly a plot and very bad acting from actors who I KNOW have ecclectic acting abilities that were definitely not exploited! <
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>And the swearing/slang was downright annoying in this movie. And for you Christians out there, there was over 50+ times the Lord's name was used in vain and abused as well. <
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>On the box it said this movie was [PG-13], but seeing it here, it turns out it is indeed [R]. After the movie ended, I was appauled. Anyways, this certainly isn't a movie for those who have families out there, and how anyone can give this movie more than 1 star is beyond me! To bad Wal-marts doesn't let you return movies after they have been opened.

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Caprice or passion?
Three man hungry women will be disposed to bet anything with the coveted objective of being loved, their unflinching resolution in the search of this obsessive eagerness will lead them unaware of their witchly powers, conjure up the same devil. <
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>This a film loaded of sinister metaphors, that symbolize the last consequences of the disproportionate search of reaching the bliss, every one of them with her particular styles, but guided for the same aim. <
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>All the cast is splendid, and there are memorable sequences of intense eroticism, specially in that in what we can see Susan Sarandon playing the cello just before the instrument flames. Nicholson is perfect in the role and Pfeiffer and Cher shone too. Miller did not doubt at all to face the most hidden demons to project them outerly. Obviously this a film with lack of measure, it just could have not been other way. <
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>Going back to the past searching related films around this theme we would find Fellini 's City of women. <
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>If we meditate around this Oscar Wilde ` s clever statement we will find possibly unexpected answers and smart clues to understand this particular attitude: "The difference between a passion that endures a whole life and a caprice, resides in the fact this last one endures longer." <
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