It is not a coincidence that the 2 words "painless" and "penniless" resemble each others. Pain makes our greatness, no doubt about that. However, in today's world, some people just proved the opposite. This movie comes to say that very meaning with good intentions, talking - in rare time - about many writers who have big success out of soulless works. It didn't forget to mention the big yet empty Hollywood blockbusters also, that earn millions while not saying a thing, or be totally forgotten later. Selling without soul does sound like selling the soul for what end up as cheaper matters in comparison. So would you live paradise on earth without soul? Well, the real question is: could you? Obviously (The Devil and Daniel Webster), based on short story by Stephen Vincent Benet and directed / starred by Alec Baldwin, is another Faust that asks, and answers that, yet done so poorly.
Defending this movie is a lost cause. It seemed like a long episode of (Amazing Stories), and without the wit of that show too. Baldwin did direct it lifelessly and tastelessly. The important situations were done non-importantly (The agreement's scene for little instance). For one, so unfortunate, time I witnessed Anthony Hopkins acting badly, OH MY GOD, the great man was doing his job indifferently like it's a cold rehearsal all along. You have to suspect, or be sure, that this is an outcome for the "no" efforts of the man behind the camera this round. Baldwin must have been shy to direct the Hopkins himself!
Jennifer Love Hewitt was unbelievably miscast to historical extent. I mean WHY???!!!!! If the devil is that awful, then fighting it would be so easy job! The moment of her saying: "When was the last time you woke up on the bed with a girl like **me**?!" is whether a hint about Baldwin as a virgin, or it is one of the most comic moments ever (I know that I laughed a lot after it!).
Yes, there are some smart points, like transforming the contract into sex. But the death of the friend, the second friend, was a bit fabricated or just too metaphoric (the end of the true writer inside the lead?). Then the stroke. The major pain. The basic nonsense. And I do mean the climactic sequence. While being the movie's highest point at all, it has the poorest acting, directing, and writing. Surely the speech of Hopkins's character didn't persuade me even for a second, the devil's one was stronger and truer. As you see, this movie doesn't know how to save its lead, or itself!
As I read, after filming was completed in 2001, the movie has been shelved for nearly 6 years, due to the lack of funds. And after coming into the possession of Bob Yari Productions, it was extensively re-edited, to not bear any resemblance to its original form or to Benet's story. Therefore, Baldwin has since requested that his name be removed from the credits as a director and producer. According to what I watched, I couldn't agree more! So whatever it's Baldwin's, Bob Yari Productions', or even the devil's fault, the weak effect that (Shortcut to Happiness) achieved, especially after so pale and unexplained finale, does make you remember it - at best - as "not bad" movie. There weren't enough elements to eventually call it "good". Simply, good intentions can't make a good movie alone.
Defending this movie is a lost cause. It seemed like a long episode of (Amazing Stories), and without the wit of that show too. Baldwin did direct it lifelessly and tastelessly. The important situations were done non-importantly (The agreement's scene for little instance). For one, so unfortunate, time I witnessed Anthony Hopkins acting badly, OH MY GOD, the great man was doing his job indifferently like it's a cold rehearsal all along. You have to suspect, or be sure, that this is an outcome for the "no" efforts of the man behind the camera this round. Baldwin must have been shy to direct the Hopkins himself!
Jennifer Love Hewitt was unbelievably miscast to historical extent. I mean WHY???!!!!! If the devil is that awful, then fighting it would be so easy job! The moment of her saying: "When was the last time you woke up on the bed with a girl like **me**?!" is whether a hint about Baldwin as a virgin, or it is one of the most comic moments ever (I know that I laughed a lot after it!).
Yes, there are some smart points, like transforming the contract into sex. But the death of the friend, the second friend, was a bit fabricated or just too metaphoric (the end of the true writer inside the lead?). Then the stroke. The major pain. The basic nonsense. And I do mean the climactic sequence. While being the movie's highest point at all, it has the poorest acting, directing, and writing. Surely the speech of Hopkins's character didn't persuade me even for a second, the devil's one was stronger and truer. As you see, this movie doesn't know how to save its lead, or itself!
As I read, after filming was completed in 2001, the movie has been shelved for nearly 6 years, due to the lack of funds. And after coming into the possession of Bob Yari Productions, it was extensively re-edited, to not bear any resemblance to its original form or to Benet's story. Therefore, Baldwin has since requested that his name be removed from the credits as a director and producer. According to what I watched, I couldn't agree more! So whatever it's Baldwin's, Bob Yari Productions', or even the devil's fault, the weak effect that (Shortcut to Happiness) achieved, especially after so pale and unexplained finale, does make you remember it - at best - as "not bad" movie. There weren't enough elements to eventually call it "good". Simply, good intentions can't make a good movie alone.