Black Magic

Stars: Judge Reinhold (Beverly Hills Cop, Ruthless People), Rachel Ward (After Dark, My Sweet, Against All Odds), Anthony LaPaglia (29th Street, Whispers in the Dark, One Good Cop). From the opening scenes, which feature camerawork reminiscent of the Coen brothers early films (Blood Simple, Raising Arizona), to the twisted ending, this story of a poor sap who falls in love with a woman who may be a witch offers enough good laughs to make for a pleasant evening's viewing. Written and directed by Daniel Taplitz (Nightlife), the film stars Judge Reinhold as Alex Gage, an insomniac who is haunted by the recurrent vision of his dead cousin Ross (LaPaglia) who claims that his former main squeeze Lilian (Ward) is really a witch who cursed him to death. Alex goes to South Carolina, hooks up with Lilian, and falls in love--much to cousin Ross's irritation. Is Lilian just a gal who's been unlucky in love or is she really a card-carrying, spellcastin' witch? Credit Taplitz' writing skills for keeping the audience guessing well into the last reel. Reinhold, Ward, and LaPaglia are all fine as the leads, and the colorful secondary characters (such as the woman who's been cursed with constipation and hasn't "pooped" in months, or the pair of crusty senior citizens that sell witch-testers for a mere grand (VISA accepted)) add to the offbeat flavor of this tasty witch's brew. Audience: Some rather pointed remarks about close encounters of the physical kind take this PG-13 film out of the family range. But mature audiences looking for an offbeat romantic comedy will enjoy this supernatural battle of the sexes.