There's a little witch in every woman. At least that's what Practical Magic would have us believe (although I suspect most women would prefer a slightly less complicated family inheritance).
Directed by Griffin Dunne, Practical Magic stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, two sisters descended from a long line of witches. Unfortunately, their family has been cursed, meaning that any man who falls in love with an Owens woman is destined to die. That's already a pretty substantial obstacle to having a successful relationship, but when Gillian gets involved with a dangerous boyfriend, the sisters find themselves using witchcraft to solve a problem that quickly becomes much worse.
The result is a strange combination of romantic comedy, supernatural horror, family drama and occasionally ridiculous humor. It doesn't always fit together perfectly, but there's something charming about how unapologetically weird the whole thing is.
Here are five reasons you might want to watch Practical Magic.
5 Reasons to Watch Practical Magic
#5: Its Tonal Swings Are Absolutely Insane
One of the most unintentionally hilarious things I've seen in a while happens during the first ten minutes of Practical Magic.
The movie spends some time establishing Sally's happy married life, complete with a loving husband and two children, before her husband is suddenly killed in a truck accident. The film moves from an adorable romantic montage to tragedy so quickly that I wasn't entirely sure how I was supposed to react, and that's fairly representative of the movie as a whole.
One minute we're watching Sandra Bullock being her charming romantic-comedy self. The next, two sisters are trying to figure out how to dispose of the body of Gillian's abusive boyfriend. Before long, we've got a resurrection attempt, supernatural possession, an exorcism and several women dancing around a kitchen making margaritas.
It sounds like five different movies, and sometimes it feels like five different movies too. That's also part of the appeal. Movies like Death Becomes Her, The Witches of Eastwick and Beetlejuice have shown that supernatural horror and comedy can coexist without always behaving like they belong together. Practical Magic doesn't necessarily handle every transition gracefully, but I admire a movie willing to get this weird while still being fundamentally interested in romance and family.
#4: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Have Great Chemistry
The main thing holding all of this together is the relationship between Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Sally and Gillian take completely different approaches to life. Sally wants something resembling normalcy and spends much of her time trying to avoid the family curse. Gillian seems determined to experience absolutely everything the world has to offer, preferably without worrying about consequences until they become unavoidable.
That creates a relationship where they're constantly frustrated with each other but are also willing to do just about anything to protect one another. Bullock is playing directly to the strengths that made her such a successful romantic lead in movies like While You Were Sleeping and Hope Floats. She's slightly awkward, relatable and charming enough that you want her to find some happiness despite the circumstances. Kidman gets to have considerably more fun as Gillian, the rebellious sister who seems almost magnetically attracted to trouble. She brings an energy that contrasts nicely with Bullock's more grounded approach.
Neither character is particularly complicated, but the actresses make them enjoyable to spend time with. And while romance and witchcraft are the movie's most obvious selling points, the relationship between the sisters is really what keeps it moving.
If you like movies like Little Women, Thelma & Louise or In Her Shoes, where complicated relationships between women are at the center of the story, there's something here for you.
#3: The Supporting Cast Is Terrific
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman understandably get most of the attention, but Practical Magic has a surprisingly strong supporting cast.
Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest play Frances and Jet, the eccentric aunts who raised the sisters, and they're responsible for some of the movie's most entertaining moments. Both seem completely comfortable playing women who've spent their lives operating according to rules that nobody else understands. They're also responsible for the famous midnight margaritas sequence, which might be the single scene that best explains why this movie has such an enthusiastic following. I can't imagine many things more appealing than living in an enormous Victorian house where your eccentric aunts occasionally decide it's time to drink tequila and dance around the kitchen.
A young Evan Rachel Wood plays Sally's daughter Kylie, years before Westworld, where I became a big fan of hers. She's one of those actors whose early appearances become more interesting once you know what she's going to accomplish later in her career.
Then there's Margo Martindale, one of my favorite character actors, appearing as Linda, a woman working at Sally's shop. It's a relatively small part, but she's one of those performers who can make even a minor character feel like somebody who existed long before the camera started rolling.
And Aidan Quinn brings a welcome amount of sincerity to Gary, the investigator whose arrival complicates Sally's attempts to avoid falling in love again.
If you enjoy watching a movie and constantly recognizing great character actors in unexpected places, Practical Magic gives you plenty of opportunities.
#2: The Owens House Might Be One of the Best Movie Homes of the 1990s
I want to live in the Owens house. Actually, after my remodel last year, I might even settle for just having access to the kitchen.
It's an enormous Victorian-style house with a beautiful conservatory, elaborate gardens, spacious rooms and little hidden corners everywhere. Every room seems filled with interesting objects that suggest generations of eccentric women have lived there, collecting strange things and occasionally using them to perform witchcraft. What makes the house even more impressive is that it didn't actually exist.
Production designer Robin Standefer and her team constructed the exterior on San Juan Island in Washington, while the interiors were primarily built on soundstages in Los Angeles. The house was essentially an enormous architectural shell created specifically for the movie. Because the production was using public parkland, the filmmakers agreed to dismantle the structure after filming. So they spent months building one of the most memorable houses in 1990s cinema, only to tear it down when they were finished. Apparently, the house looked so convincing that Barbra Streisand contacted the filmmakers because she wanted to buy it. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't a real house and couldn't be sold.
If you love the homes in The Addams Family, Beetlejuice or Casper, I think the Owens house deserves a place in that conversation. It's one of those rare movie locations where the building feels almost as important as the characters living inside it.
#1: It's a Great Halloween Movie for People Who Don't Really Want Horror
Not everybody wants to celebrate Halloween by watching someone get dismembered with a chainsaw. Sometimes you want a little witchcraft, a little romance and just enough supernatural activity to remind you what time of year it is.
That's where Practical Magic fits perfectly.
It's not really a horror movie, although it certainly gets creepy. There's a genuinely unpleasant possession story running through the second half, complete with an exorcism and a character who becomes significantly less charming once he's dead, It's also not exactly a straightforward romantic comedy. The relationship between Sally and Gary is a big part of its appeal. Sally has spent much of her life trying to avoid falling in love because she knows what the family curse might do to anybody who loves her. When Gary enters the picture, she has to decide whether protecting herself from heartbreak is worth giving up the possibility of happiness.
It's a recognizable romantic dilemma, just with a little more witchcraft than usual.
Movies like Ghost, Edward Scissorhands, Beautiful Creatures and Warm Bodies have found interesting ways to combine romance with supernatural storytelling, and Practical Magic belongs in that general neighborhood. It's spooky enough for Halloween, romantic enough for a date night and strange enough that you're probably going to spend a little time afterward discussing exactly what kind of movie you just watched.
A Little Practical Magic Trivia: There Are Two Soundtrack Versions
Here's something for soundtrack collectors.
The film was originally scored by Michael Nyman, but after the filmmakers were unhappy with how the music was working, Nyman's score was replaced with a new score by Alan Silvestri.
Unfortunately, the original soundtrack CDs had already been manufactured. That means some early copies of Practical Magic: Music from the Motion Picture feature two pieces of Nyman's music, while later pressings replace those tracks with Silvestri's score. The rest of the compilation is largely the same, but if you've got an original 1998 CD sitting in your collection, take a look at the final two tracks. You might have the less common version.
Who Should Watch Practical Magic?
Practical Magic is a good choice for anyone who enjoys romantic fantasy, movies about complicated family relationships or Halloween films that don't require a particularly high tolerance for horror.
Fans of The Witches of Eastwick, Death Becomes Her, Ghost, Edward Scissorhands and Hocus Pocus should find something appealing here, although Practical Magic doesn't fit neatly into any one of those categories. It's also worth checking out if you enjoy Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, memorable supporting casts, elaborate production design or movies that seem perfectly comfortable changing genres every fifteen minutes.
If you're looking for a consistently scary witch movie, this probably isn't it. But if you want romance, family drama and just enough supernatural weirdness to make Halloween feel like Halloween, it's an easy recommendation.
Where to Watch Practical Magic
As of October 2026, Practical Magic is available in the United States on HBO Max. It's also available to rent or purchase digitally through services including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Physical-media editions, including 4K Ultra HD, are available for collectors.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Prefer to Listen?
Prefer your movie recommendations in podcast form? You can also hear this Force Five review as I give five reasons you might want to watch Practical Magic, from Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's chemistry to its gorgeous Victorian house, wonderfully strange tonal shifts and place among Halloween's most approachable supernatural movies.
Practical Magic on the Force Five Top 5 Radar
Top 5 Movie Houses I'd Love to Live In
The Owens house belongs near the top of any list of memorable movie homes. I'd put it in the conversation with the houses from Home Alone, The Addams Family, Beetlejuice and Casper, although living in that last one might require coming to terms with a few permanent supernatural roommates.
The Owens house gets bonus points for having an amazing kitchen, an enormous conservatory and a family whose idea of a normal evening occasionally involves making margaritas at midnight.
Top 5 Movies That Mix Romance and Horror
Practical Magic occupies that unusual space where the supernatural elements complicate a love story without completely overwhelming it. Ghost, Warm Bodies, Spring, The Shape of Water and Bram Stoker's Dracula all approach the combination in different ways.
Some lean much harder into horror while others are primarily romantic fantasies, but all understand that love can become much more complicated when ghosts, monsters or ancient curses enter the relationship.
More Force Five
If the witches and family relationships in Practical Magic were your favorite parts, The Devonsville Terror (1983) offers a much nastier look at the persecution of women accused of witchcraft. Ulli Lommel's low-budget horror movie takes its supernatural history considerably more seriously, but both films are interested in what happens when a community decides certain women are dangerous simply because they don't fit in.
For something considerably stranger, The Black Cat (1989) offers Luigi Cozzi's gloriously confused supernatural horror film involving a witch, a troubled movie production and several effects sequences that have to be seen to be believed. It is far less romantic than Practical Magic, but viewers who enjoy unusual witch-related genre movies may appreciate just how ridiculous it gets.
If the romantic material and complicated family expectations were what grabbed you, Lemonade Blessing (2026) takes those ideas into the decidedly less supernatural world of Catholic school. Chris Merola's coming-of-age comedy is about first love, parental expectations, guilt and what happens when somebody begins questioning the rules they've lived by their entire life.
And if the bizarre shifts between comedy and supernatural violence were your favorite parts, Psycho Goreman (2021) takes that combination to a much more extreme place. Steven Kostanski's horror comedy follows two children who accidentally gain control of an extremely dangerous alien monster, with a wonderfully ridiculous tone and considerably more blood than you'll find in the Owens family kitchen.
