Retrospective Film Review

Practical Magic (1998) • 25 Years Later — a bewitching tale of sisterhood and love

Two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding love.

When Practical Magic was released just before Halloween 1998, it didn’t exactly cast a spell on critics or audiences. One might even say it was cursed. A financial flop at the box office and a critical conundrum, the film fizzled despite the involvement of mega-stars Sandra Bullock (Speed) and Nicole Kidman (To Die For).

A clever pitch on paper, the film tells the story of two witch sisters, Sally (Bullock) and Gillian (Kidman) Owens, who yearn for love and normalcy in their small New England town, all while battling prejudice and an ancestral curse that dooms any man they fall in love with to an early grave. Given a generous $75M production budget from Warner Bros. and marketed as a fun, slightly spooky, and very swoony chick flick, Practical Magic seemed poised to set itself apart from the usual October slate…