‘Practical Magic’ Stars Recall the Backlash Against Its Women-Centered Story

When Practical Magic arrived in theaters in 1998, audiences got a story about witches, family, love and sisterhood. Critics, however, were not nearly as enchanted.

Starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, the film follows two women from a long line of witches. Their family has also been haunted by a curse that affects the men they fall in love with.

The movie featured an unusually large number of female characters, including their eccentric aunts, played by Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing, as well as daughters, mothers, friends and other women in the town.

At the time, that became a surprising source of criticism.

‘How many women do you need in a film?’

Looking back ahead of the upcoming sequel, Bullock told Entertainment Weekly that promoting the original movie was “a bumpy road.”

One question, in particular, kept coming up during press interviews.

“If I heard one more time, you know, ‘How many women do you need in a film?’” Bullock recalled.

The comment left younger cast members Joey King and Maisie Williams visibly shocked.

Bullock also remembered another criticism: that the movie tried to mix too many different genres.

“There’s just so many tones, like comedy and drama and magic,” she said critics would tell her.

Her response was simple: “And I’m like, have you lived any life?”

For Bullock, the mixture of humor, drama, romance and magic was part of what made the story feel real.

A different kind of story

The negative reaction was difficult for Bullock to understand.

“It was surprising,” she said. “I don’t want to say I had shame, but I was sad at how it sort of was received initially.”

Still, she said the cast and filmmakers understood what they were trying to make.

“We knew what we were making and why we were making it,” Bullock said. “The response wasn’t what it is now. Different time.”

The film’s focus on women supporting one another was especially important to her.

In a 1998 interview with the Orange County Register, Bullock explained why she had wanted to make the movie. She described it as a story about the love between two women that did not depend on rivalry over men.

“It’s a storyline of love between two women where the two women are not stealing each other’s husbands or stabbing each other in the back,” she said. “It’s about support, and that is important to me.”

At the time, however, a male journalist reportedly mocked her for what he called “stepping momentarily on a soapbox.”

‘Too many’ women on screen

Producer Denise Di Novi has also spoken about the criticism surrounding the movie.

In a 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, Di Novi recalled that the film was criticized for simply having too many women in its cast.

“Believe it or not, we actually got criticism for having too many women in the movie,” she said.

She recalled one review that asked: “How many women can you fit in one movie? In Practical Magic, too many.”

Di Novi, who also produced films including Heathers, Catwoman and both the 1994 and 2019 versions of Little Women, said Practical Magic stood out because of its female-centered story.

“We had three generations of women and the guys were the supporting-actor love interests,” she explained.

That was essentially the opposite of the usual Hollywood formula at the time, she noted.

From criticized to beloved

More than two decades later, Practical Magic has developed a devoted following. What was once dismissed by some critics has become a beloved movie for many viewers, particularly those drawn to its themes of sisterhood, female friendship and family.

Bullock’s comments also highlight how much the conversation around women in movies has changed since 1998.

What was once seen by some critics as “too many women” is now part of what makes Practical Magic distinctive.

And as a new generation of actresses joins the story, the film’s central message about women supporting one another is getting another chance to cast its spell.