It is not a coincidence that the 2 words painless and penniless resemble each others. Pain makes our greatness, no doubt about that. However, in today's world, some people just proved the opposite. This movie comes to say that meaning with good intentions, talking – in rare time – about many writers who have big success out of soulless works (the rest of books that Daniel Webster published away from the few great ones he really respects). It didn't forget to mention the big yet empty Hollywood blockbusters also, that earn millions while not saying a thing, or be totally forgotten later. Selling without soul does sound like selling the soul for what end up as cheaper matters in comparison. So would you live paradise on earth without soul? Well, the real question is : could you? Obviously (The Devil and Daniel Webster) is another Faust that asks and answers that, yet done so poorly.Defending this movie is a lost cause. It seemed like a long episode of (Amazing Stories), and without the wit of that show too. Baldwin did direct it lifelessly and tastelessly. The important situations were done non-importantly (The agreement's scene for little instance). For one, so unfortunate, time I witnessed Anthony Hopkins acting badly, OH MY GOD, the great man was doing his job indifferently like it's a cold rehearsal all along. You have to suspect, or be sure, that this is an outcome for the "no" efforts of the man behind the camera this round. Baldwin must have been shy to direct the Hopkins himself !Jennifer Love Hewitt was unbelievably miscast to historical extent. I mean WHY ???!!!!! If the devil is that ugly, then fighting it would be so easy job! Look at the scene where she has to take her coat off, seducing the lead to sell his soul; then rewind but replacing Marilyn Monroe instead. Actually I don't need to do that to know HOW AWFUL HEWITT WAS! The moment of her saying "when was the last time you woke up on the bed with a girl like **me** ?!" is whether a hint about Baldwin as a virgin, or it is one of the most comic moments ever ! (I know that I laughed a lot after it !). Yes, there are some smart points, like transforming the contract into sex. But the death of the friend, the second friend, was a bit fabricated or just too metaphoric (the end of the true writer inside the lead?). Then the stroke. The major pain. The basic crap. And I do mean the climactic sequence. While being the movie's highest point at all, it has the poorest acting, directing, and writing. Surely the speech of Hopkins's character didn't persuade me even for a second, the devil's one was stronger and truer. As you see, this movie doesn't know how to save its lead, or itself !As I read at the Trivia section; after filming was completed in 2001 the movie has been shelved for nearly 6 years due to lack of funds. Then it was extensively re-edited after coming into the possession of Bob Yari Productions, and no longer bears any resemblance to its original form or to Stephen Vincent Benet's short story. So Baldwin has since requested that his name be removed from the credits as director and producer. According to what I watched, I couldn't agree more ! So whatever it's Baldwin's, Bob Yari Productions', or even the devil's fault, the weak effect that (Shortcut to Happiness) achieved, especially after so pale and unexplained finale, does make you remember it – at best – as "not bad" movie. There weren't enough elements to eventually call it "good". Simply good intentions can't make a good movie alone.

I saw this movie because of Jennifer Love Hewitt (she's so cute!), but, well, maybe i shouldn't have. It isn't exactly boring, but it isn't interesting neither.It's not the worst movie ever, it has some great ideas but they're not as exploited as they could have been, the acting is decent (except for Alec Baldwin who just overdoes it).If you don't have anything better to do (or to watch), well, it will keep you busy for an hour and a half... But maybe you'd better check Bedazzled out, it's way more funny than Shortcut to Happiness ! (PS: Sorry if I made some syntax or spelling mistakes, i'm french)

Struggling novelist, unable to get anything published much less an actual audience to read his work, enters into a pact with a comely female Satan: fame and fortune in exchange for his immortal soul. Archibald Macleish's play "Scratch" becomes an updating of "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (filmed in 1941, with a panicked farmer as the tempted central figure); producer-director Alec Baldwin portrays the leading character opposite a terrific supporting cast, including Anthony Hopkins as lawyer Daniel Webster and Jennifer Love Hewitt as the Devil. Unfortunately, the movie was edited against Baldwin's wishes after sitting on the shelf for years, debuting on the Starz television network in 2007 after some brief theatrical bookings. It begins well but quickly loses its footing once Baldwin's writer gains the success he so desired, turning the picture into a yuppie treatise on the old money-can't-buy-happiness ploy. The filmmakers are so out-of-touch, they don't even consider the fact that maybe some of the writer's needs ARE fulfilled by his newfound celebrity. Instead, he turns into a sad sack with money in the bank and women at his feet--clearly not something struggling writers in real-life can identify with. Worse, there's never a moment when this man's heart is actually detectable; Baldwin is so callow an actor (not to mention as the director) that all we perceive are his handsome, unmodulated externals. He purses his lips and gazes intently at the camera, hoping to smolder, while viewers lose track of the character's roots. The final courtroom battle is well-played, though so much of the writing is smarmy, and executed without style, that the overall results are distinctly unsatisfactory. *1/2 from ****

The first time I saw Alec Baldwin and Antony Hopkins together was in "The Edge", a magnificent movie about basic things like survival, our true nature and our goal in life. "Shortcut to happiness" is very close to it as a message. This is a story about our true path in life, about genuine things we must do and how different is world now. Different from our true role in life, set by mother Nature, how we have substituted what is wright for something we suspect is rather wrong. Philosophical subject that provokes all of us to think what we have to do with our carrier and our personal life. The play of Alec Baldwin and Sir Antony Hopkins is with no doubt perfect and appealing in every aspect. So is the screenplay, the only concern I have is about the staging, it could be more solid and so I expected. This is not a big issue though and overall the movie is just excellent!