– The Devil and Daniel Webster Shortcut to Happiness: The Devil in Detail

The little-known film “The Devil and Daniel WebsterShortcut To Happiness” (2004) is the directorial debut of Alec Baldwin, he is also starring as an unlucky writer. The shortcut to happiness is like a shortcut, I pulled it out on the desktop and clicked it when I needed it. The she-devil is played by the heart-eating star Jennifer Love-Hewitt. Of course, she is also good here and shows off her figure, smile and wasp waist. That I just want to raise a glass for this. But the lady did not graduate from the bar, unlike the older and wiser heroes.

So, Alec Baldwin plays the loser writer Jabez Stone from New York. And Anthony Hopkins is in the role of publishing magnate Daniel Webster. I have published 5 great books all the time and 40 simply good ones. And the rest is literary crap. But businesswomen like Constance Harry (Kim Cattrall, Samantha from Sex and the City), predators in the book publishing business, will help sell anything. The film is somewhat similar to the previously released Bedazzled with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley in the lead roles.

Of course, Hopkins pulls half the film on himself, although he certainly is not my favorite actor, but it’s hard to name his work where he would be unconvincing. Yes, after the role of Hannibal the cannibal, he can eat you with giblets for breakfast with one glance. And Baldwin’s “baby face” is just nice to look at, I just want to pat him for his chubby cheeks like some kind of baby. You don’t really believe how such a piercing blue-eyed darling can suffer from the absence of a soul, because someone in him may not even care about the soul. But the catch is that everything is in place for the guy: success, popularity with the girls, but there is no happiness. Jabusi doesn’t have Marusia. True, the success is as pop as possible, the fish fulfills wishes, but does not specify details. And the devil is in the details!

The poor guy didn’t realize in a hurry what kind of deal the she-devil was offering him, he started talking about respect, but she “sold” him success. That’s where the most interesting thing is – each person invests something of their own into success. Success is a success, but the conditions may be such that success a) at the expense of a friend (in the role of Uncle Julius Jensen – Dan Ackroyd, The Blues Brothers) b) in the absence of respect from colleagues in the workshop c) in the absence of self-esteem as well d) with disregard by intellectual readers e) in the absence of friends and relatives f) with the lack of love – your woman and what you do.

Do you need such success? Probably not. Therefore, you should always keep in mind what price you are willing to pay for this or that success. Carpe diem. At the end of the film, it will become clear why Webster drove Stone away at the beginning, even though his book was good.

And why do we have a movie called “Shortcut to Happiness”? The fact is that this was the name of the original book by Stephen Vincent Bene, first published in 1936. The hero in the story was called Javis Stone. And he was a farmer, and he plowed the land raw, and not cultivated the literary field. And the devil tempted him, in male form, and he sold his soul to him for prosperity and a good harvest. In 1941, a black-and-white film was shot, which also in the Russian version was called Shortcut to Happiness, and in the USA it was released as “All That Money Can Buy”. Then Archibald McLeish in 1971 released the play “Scratch”, which became so popular that they made a play, a musical, a radio play and even a cartoon The Devil and Daniel Mouse (1978) based on it.

PS Alec Baldwin demanded that his last name be removed from the credits, because the film at the post-production stage was given to Bob Yari Productions, where they created something out of it that completely ceased to resemble Baldwin’s original movie-director and producer. Despite this incident, the film is still not bad, gives food for thought, looks easy and in one breath.