Practical Magic
(PG-13)
Sally Owens: Sandra Bullock
Gillian Owens: Nicole Kidman
Gary Hallett: Aidan Quinn
Aunt Frances: Stockard Channing
Aunt Jet: Dianne Wiest
Directed by Griffin Dunne. Written by Robin Swicord, Akiva Goldsman and Adam Brooks. Based on the novel by Alice Hoffman.
Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some violence, intense thematic elements and sensuality)
The Owens is a family of witches for generations. They try to live a normal life
but the townspeople always (out of fear) hate them. During the Witch Trial years
one of the owens women, makes a family curse whenever a owens woman loves a man
deeply that man dies in a tragic death. Sally Owens (Bullock) finds a man marries
him, and has two young girls. One day Sally hears the noise of a beetle (a symbol
of death) and her husband is good as dead. Sally returns home to her witch aunts
who pushes her daughters to discover their internal witch powers. Sally will have
no part of it. She just wants a normal life. Gillian (Kidman) has been running
around the country with different men trying to find someone to love. She finds
Gary... A nice man, before he gets a drink in. Gillian calls Sally to come and
get her from a hotel room. When Sally gets there Gary makes her and Gillian drive
him or he will kill them. Sally slips drugs into his wine bottle to make him sleep
(Something Gillian has done several times before). This kills Gary. The two witches
get scared, and raises his body from death using a spell. A spell they were told
will have horriable consequenses. The body comes back to life as a murderious being
not alive, not dead. They kill gary again (or so they think) and bury his body
in the back yard. A Police officer from Texas comes arround looking for gary.
The Officer snoops around town, and into their lives. The two witches find out
that gary was a serial killer. Throughout the time that the officer is around
they keep on seeing garys body appearing out by his burrial location. Then all
hell breaks loose. Gary is alive as a spirit tearing up the house. The Witch Aunts
leave, so Sally and Gillian can fix their own mess. With the help of the officer
they banish Gary (so they think). This gary is harder to get rid of then the
ring-around your tub. Gary's spirit goes into Gillians body possessing it. Sally
must get her Aunts (who just returned) and several women from the town to do a
witch circle to banish the evil spirit. They do and the towns people understand
that they are just plain old people. Everything is hunkey dorey, including that
sally marries her man of her dreams and breaks the curse. The man of her dreams
turns out to be the police officer.