THIS seems to be Hollywood’s season of remakes and sequels – and Liz Hurley’s new film Bedazzled keeps to that trend.

The original starred iconic comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (with an appearance by Raquel Welch).

The remake has Hurley and Brendan Fraser taking the leading roles. The storyline has been doctored somewhat in its translation between the 1960s original and now. The original had Moore as a washed-up fast food chef infatuated by a waitress who pays him no attention, so the devil (Cook) appears on the scene and offers him a deal – one soul for one woman. Now we have Fraser as a geeky internet help-line operator who is obsessed with a girl in the office. Hurley plays a femme fatale devil offering a similar deal to the original. The female incarnation of Lucifer is a novel twist to the tale, similar to Alanis Morrisette’s God in Dogma. As Hurley slinks from scene to scene, with a playful glint in her eye, Fraser’s too-nice-to-date Elliot is the real comedy element to this tale. The character has enough good lines for Fraser to shine above the rest of the cast.Having seven wishes in return for his soul, Elliot makes each wish aiming to impress his woman-friend. Unfortunately, the devil seems to find a way of twisting the wish to a private torture. A rich and famous wish renders Elliot a drug lord being chased by Russian mafia. The failing of the movie is the number of wishes Elliot has in return for his soul. After the first three you can work out how each wish will be twisted, and your only wish is for the punchline of this 90-minute comedy. Hurley also fails to impress, which is a pity, as 90 per cent of the film centres around her and Fraser, leaving Fraser the only shining gem in this remake. In summary, the film is mildly amusing, but cannot escape the gravity of the old Hollywood law - re-makes are a risky business. Rating