Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Three single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.
The Witches of Eastwick is elevated almost entirely by its extraordinary cast — Nicholson, Cher, Pfeiffer, and Sarandon clearly relish every moment, and Nicholson's gleefully unhinged performance as Daryl Van Horne is a genuine career highlight. The plot, adapted from John Updike's novel, is serviceable but meanders in its second half and struggles to balance tones between dark satire and supernatural comedy. Visually competent but unremarkable for the era. The film has a distinctive irreverent energy that sets it apart from typical genre fare of the period, though it doesn't fully reinvent the wheel. The ending is widely regarded as the film's weakest point — chaotic, rushed, and unsatisfying, relying on a cartoonish climax that undercuts the sharper character work that preceded it.