reflecting on " bedazzled , " a lively comedy about the devil who seeks to possess the soul of a pathetic loser , one sinful thought remains in my mind . if hell means having to spend an eternity with elizabeth hurley ( who portrays the fiery demon ) , then use that pitchfork and point me the way . with her pouty lips , irresistible british accent , and wild display of haute couture , hurley crackles with naughtiness and fills your mind with temptation . it's practically impossible to turn this beelzu-babe down . her next target is elliot ( brendan fraser ) , a tech support geek who is clumsy , awkward , and just too eager to please . to aptly picture him , you would have to remember a saturday night live skit featuring " steve the copy guy " who effortlessly irritated his co-workers with his unpolished social skills . eugene , thus , is loathed and feared by his co-workers , who do their best to stay out of his way . yet , beyond his annoying mannerisms , he's a lovable oaf . he wishes that he could get closer to allison ( frances o'connor ) , a co-worker with whom he is infatuated but who has never taken notice of him . however , the odds of him getting together with her are about the same as a snowball's chance in hell . " dear god , " he prays . " i would give anything to have that girl in my life . " guess who then shows up ? she makes an offer that is too hard to refuse . " seven utterly fabulous wishes for one piddling little soul . " there's even an escape clause . if elliot's wish doesn't go exactly the way he likes , he need only 'beep' her ( one guess as to what the three-digit number is ) and he gets to start over . the remainder of the film consists of elliot's various fantasies that incorporate his personal desire to have enormous amounts of wealth , power , fame and allison's love . but when he makes sweeping statements such as " i want to be very , very powerful and very , very rich and married to allison " , he'll soon learn that the devil is in the details . for example , ( and we've seen this several times in the trailers ) , he is granted his wish , but finds out that he's a columbian drug lord and that allison , while married to him , has her eyes on someone else . apparently , the devil is just as eager to skew his fantasies as she is to possess his soul . his other wishes also end up with some strange but funny twist that short-circuits his new life . soon , elliot wishes that he had never made that deal . given the mischievous nature of the devil , " bedazzled " has many amusing moments . a lot of the credit goes to fraser who turns in a great comic performance . he ably assumes various personas . his funniest segment is when he wishes that he could be the most sensitive man in the world . allison becomes so frustrated with him that she practically urges him to take advantage of her . hurley also heightens the humor quotient , especially in the transitional scenes when fraser waits to start his next wish after bailing out of the previous one . it's clear that she's having a good time with it all . yet , while the filmmakers work hard at creating funny scenes , they conspicuously avoid developing the allegorical underpinnings between good and evil that could have added more heft to this story . but that would be playing with fire . what they've got works , so you can easily accept it for the pleasant little comedy that it is .
