History Film / PracticalMagic

'''Sally''' (angry): Where did you get this? Where did you get this bottle?!\\

* ComingOutStory: Sally during the phone tree operation. "I'm a witch!"

** When one of the Aunts sees Gilly's bruise, she says "a little mugwort will clear that right up." Ironically, Witch-hazel, which really is used for healing bruises, scrapes and wounds, would have been more appropriate.

* IncestSubtext: After her heartbreak from Gary leaving, Sally goes inside and hugs Gillian who proceeds to sniff her hair and lick her face. Sally is obviously {{Squicked}} out at first from this behavior with her sister until Gilly whispers "Ye Haw" in a seductive whisper and says "I'm feeling very into sisters right now...". Realizing that it is Jimmy's spirit who is demonically controlling Gilly, Sally punches her in an attempt to subdue Jimmy and begs for a fight.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pracmag.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Just a normal evening at the Owens house.]]

->'''Gary ''': Did you or your sister kill James Angelov?
->'''Sally''': [[SarcasticConfession Yeah, a couple of times]].

-->'''Jet:''' She goes through all these men, none of which are any good for her.
-->'''Frances:''' One day maybe she'll meet a man who goes through ''her''.

-->'''Kylie''': Why can't we tell Mommy that we're using magic to get rid of the policeman?
-->'''Gilly''': Because Mommy likes to pretend she doesn't ''use'' magic.

* ChekhovsGun: The phone tree.

* EasilyForgiven: Despite finding out that Gilly and Sally killed someone, no-one seems to bothered by this (however, it ''was'' justifiable both times, and [[{{Pun}} thus]] {{justified}}.
** Averted in the book, [[spoiler: where Jimmy died of alcohol poisoning.]]

* FlyingBroomstick: Subverted. The witches have broomsticks, but for the more practical use of sweeping up the ashes of a demonic spirit.
** Besides, they apparently don't need brooms to fly.

* GenerationXerox: The Owens family seems to produce one pair of sisters per generation, one redhead and one brunette. They even hang a lampshade on this with identically framed shots of Gilly and Sally walking up to the aunts' house and, years later, Sally's daughters doing the same.

* GranolaGirl: Sally has a few of these tendencies, with her all-natural, oatmeal-based shampoos, soaps, and body lotions.
** Even moreso in the books, where she becomes a vegetarian after witnessing the bird-killing love spell, and great detail is used in [[FoodPorn describing her cooking]].
* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Gilly in the movie, though it's implied most Owens women indulge in this from time to time. "Midnight Margaritas," anyone?

* LovePotion: The aunts sell them when needed.

* TooDumbToLive: Given that Jimmy was already shown to be a borderline sociopath, you have to question why bringing him back to life as something "dark and unnatural" was ever going to be a good idea. Sally does question this, but only for about two minutes. Gilly points out "he's already dark and unnatural," arguing he couldn't get any worse. [[FromBadToWorse She's wrong.]]

--> '''Aunts''': [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Clean up your own mess.]]

* SlutShaming: Sally does this to Gilly while drunk [[spoiler:and influenced by Jimmy's spirit]].

* SuddenlySober: After Gillian smashes the bottle of tequila, everyone instantly loses their giggly drunkenness.
** It could be argued that their intense intoxication was somewhat caused by [[spoiler: Jimmy's spirit affecting everyone in the house]] as the aunts are heard singing the same song He was just before [[spoiler: Gillian and Sally killed him the first time]], and Sally noticed that it was Jimmy's bottle of booze.

* UtilityMagic: Sally uses magic to do [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin practical things]] like stir her coffee and light candles.

->'''Sally ''': Did you or your sister kill James Angelov?
->'''Gary''': [[SarcasticConfession Yeah, a couple of times]].

->"Did you or your sister kill James Angelov?"
->"[[SarcasticConfession Yeah, a couple of times]]."
--> -Sally Owens and Gary Hallett.

In 2004, Sandra Bullock produced a pilot for a TV series based on the movie titled ''Sudbury'' starring Jeri Ryan, Kim Delaney, and Creator/KatDennings, but it didn't make it to series. The pilot was reviewed as an episode of the podcast Podcast/CanceledTooSoon.

* TooDumbToLive: Given that Jimmy was already shown to be a borderline sociopath, you have to question why bringing him back to life as something "dark and unnatural" was ever going to be a good idea. Sally does question this, but only for about two minutes.

The story is probably best remembered as a 1998 film, but was originally based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman. It should be noted that most of the tropes here apply to the movie. The book [[GhostlyGoals is]] [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane markedly]] [[AHouseDivided different]]. The movie stars Creator/NicoleKidman and Creator/SandraBullock as the sisters (Gillian and Sally, respectively), with a supporting cast featuring Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, and Aidan Quinn. The director was Griffin Dunne, previously known for ''Addicted To Love'' (1997). The film was not particularly successful at the box office. It earned an estimated 46,683,377 dollars at the United States market, where it was only the 45th most successful film of its year. It performed relatively well in the United Kingdom but not elsewhere.

* AssholeVictim: If anyone needed to die, it was Jimmy. Abusive: he hit Gillian for correcting him in front of a kid that a jelly donut isn't a cream donut. Violent: aside from branding his women with his ring (Gillian would not have been the first), he had a tendency to strangle women when he thought they were trying to escape him. [[RuleofThree And controlling:]] to the point of not being willing to let Gillian go to the restroom by herself, and to the point where she felt the need to drug him to have the occasional bit of rest from his constant attentions.

* [[CaliforniaDoubling Coupeville Doubling]]: Although the film supposedly takes place in a small New England town, most scenes were filmed in [[http://www.cometocoupeville.com/ Coupeville]] and Friday Harbor, WA.

* AdultsAreUseless: Pretty much the whole town condones the normal kids bullying Owens girls.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Sally's daughters, especially the younger one, who doesn't seem too bothered by Jimmy's ObviouslyEvil ghost stalking and haunting the family house.

* LoophleAbuse: Attempted. The Aunts think that if they give Sally a magical nudge to fall in love with Michael, [[spoiler:the terms of the curse won't be met. However, Sally BecameTheMask and truly fell in love with her husband, causing the terms of the curse to activate]].

* WaifProphet: Sally's younger daughter, who is able to see Jimmy's ghost before anyone else can.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The Owens women have been victims of this for centuries, ever since the town's last attempt to BurnTheWitch failed. This is also another Sally is a BoomerangBigot; she takes the ostracization worse than anyone else in her family.

* CoolAunt: Franches and Jet to Gilly and Sally (as well as Sally's daughters, despite being their great-aunts). Gilly is also this to Sally's girls, Kylie and Antonia.

* BrickJoke: Kylie points at Sara's son who has been teasing her and says she hopes he gets chicken pox. Later, during Gary's interviews, he's briefly shown to have broken out with red marks all over his face.

* DangerTakesABackseat: Gillian just [[TooDumbToLive can't leave]] without her lucky necklace...

* AssholeVictim: If anyone needed to die, it was Jimmy. Abusive: he hit Gillian for correcting him in front of a kid that a jelly donut isn't a cream donut. Violent: aside from branding his women with his ring (Gillian would not have been the first), he had a tendency to strangle women when he thought they were trying to escape him. [[RuleofThree And controlling:]] to the point of not being willing to let Gillian go to the restroom by herself, and to the point where she felt the need to drug him to have the occasional bit of rest from his constant attentions.

** The aunts look like they might also have fit this trope before their hair grayed.

* AssholeVictim: If anyone needed to die, it was Jimmy. Abusive: he hit Gillian for correcting him in front of a kid that a jelly donut isn't a cream donut. Violent: aside from branding his women with his ring (Gillian would not have been the first), he had a tendency to strangle women when he thought they were trying to escape him. [[RuleofThree And controlling:]] to the point of not being willing to let Gillian go to the restroom by herself, and to the point where she felt the need to drug him to have the occasional bit of rest from his constant attentions.

* AssholeVictim: If anyone needed to die, it was Jimmy.

Sally and Gilly Owens are two sisters with an open secret: they come from a long line of witches, and their family harbors a terrible HereditaryCurse: any man who falls in love with them is doomed to die. They lost their father to the curse, and shortly after, their mother to a broken heart. As a result, they go off to live with their two eccentric aunts, Frances and Bridget. As they grow older, Sally decides she never wants to fall in love, and casts a spell to protect herself from its charms by decreeing she'll fall in love only with a man she believes can never exist. Gillian, on the other hand, is a free spirit who falls into lust easily and often, usually with men who are no good for her.

As they both grow older, Sally meets and marries a young man named Michael, and they have two daughters together. For the first time, she feels a normal life is attainable, and becomes part of the town community that had once shunned her for being a witch. Gillian drifts across the country, eventually meeting and falling for a violent creep named Jimmy Angelov. Both sisters hit a rough patch when Michael is killed -- another victim of the curse -- and Sally falls into a deep depression. Meanwhile, Jimmy isn't quite the angel he's pretended to be.

The story is probably best remembered as a 1998 film, but was originally based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman. It should be noted that most of the tropes here apply to the movie. The book [[GhostlyGoals is]] [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane markedly]] [[AHouseDivided different]]. The movie stars Creator/NicoleKidman and SandraBullock as the sisters (Gillian and Sally, respectively), with a supporting cast featuring Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, and Aidan Quinn. The director was Griffin Dunne, previously known for ''Addicted To Love'' (1997). The film was not particularly successful at the box office. It earned an estimated 46,683,377 dollars at the United States market, where it was only the 45th most successful film of its year. It performed relatively well in the United Kingdom but not elsewhere.

* BurnTheWitch: Averted when the hanging of the main characters' ancestor fails.

* ChekhovsGun: The Phone Tree.

* EasilyForgiven: Despite finding out that Gilly and Sally accidentally murdered someone, no-one seems to bothered by this.
** Averted in the book, [[spoiler: Jimmy died of alcohol poisoning.]]

** When one of the Aunts sees Gilly's bruise, she says "a little mugwort will clear that right up." Ironically, Witch Hazel, which is actually used for healing bruises, scrapes and wounds, would have been more appropriate.

* EyeScream: Subverted. Part of the spell to bring Jimmy back to life involves sticking two needles into his eyes [[spoiler: but he wakes up just before they get to it.]]
* FlyingBroomstick: Subverted; the witches have broomsticks, but for the more practical use of sweeping up the ashes of a demonic spirit.