There aren’t many straightforward, non-Romantic Comedies these days. At least not ones that get a big advertising budget. And generally, when they do, they suffer from juvenile humour, a disappointing, predictable script and scenarios that illicit little more than the occasional giggle. The sorts of movies that cause geniune, belly aching laughter – at least to yours truly – seem rarer than ever these days. So when one experiences such a sensation, you’re somewhat taken by surprise. Especially when it hasn’t been made by the British.
Enter The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, a big budget American comedy featuring an all-star cast and focusing on the rarely touched (in a comedic sense, anyway) “magician” genre (it is, after all, a profession you’re not supposed to take seriously in the first place), and somehow we have a movie that – wait for it – actually doesn’t suck. It seemed the greatest magic trick this film pulled was a fantastic script, some perfect casting and scenarios that caused the aforementioned sensation of bellyaching laughter.
But before I let the praise get too hyperbolic thanks to my overall surprise at the film’s quality, I better get the negatives out of the way. This is no award winning masterpiece – but if you expected an award winning film, you were probably in the wrong cinema. It’s predictable, relies on plenty of cliches and will undoubtedly have as many detractors as supporters – comedies like this always do. It does get a bit dark at times, and the nature of Carrell’s character at the start of the film is a bit over the top. Plus, not everyone loves magic. But if you can get past these minor transgressions, you’re going to have a fantastic time. So, what’s the film all about, anyway?
The film stars “best friend” magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buschemi), who are stars of the Las Vegas strip, headlining the legendary Ballys casino. But after 15 years of doing the same shtick, they’re tired of it, tired of each other, and the audiences are, too. Enter Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), star of the Criss Angel type street magic show “Brain Rape” (I have to say, that’s beyond brilliant), who is pushing magic into the direction of torture porn and whose growing popularity eventually leads to – in one way or another – the cancellation of Burt and Anton’s show (not to mention a falling out between the two).
Jane (Olivia Wilde), who served as the magician’s assistant, along with Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin), become catalysts for change in Burt, whose boredom in his career, and ego, was the real problem in the first place, and eventually the competition between the aging magicians and Carrey’s character (a perfect exaggeration of the already exaggerated, gothic and bizarre street magician, e.g. Angel or David Blaine) leads them into a battle to return to the stage.
While you can probably predict what happens from there, the ride from start to finish is particularly entertaining. The included sex scene is surely one of the most clever scenes of its kind, and Carrell as the “solo magician” had me in tears. I won’t spoil it beyond there because thankfully they haven’t ruined the best bits in the trailers. Arkin is ultimately given a small role in the film, but delivers some of the best scenes – including a facial expression that was a stroke of pure genius, and had the SXSW audience in hysterics. I definitely wasn’t the only one in that theatre who was laughing; there were 1300 people very much enjoying themselves. But I suppose that sort of energy is contagious, especially with Wilde, Carrey and Carrell in the room.
Having spent eight years on the script, screenwriters Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley have delivered some comedy gold here. It’s a surprisingly refreshing piece of well executed comedy that I feel I haven’t seen in some time; perhaps since the similarly surprising 21 Jump Street – although this is definitely the superior piece in my books.
In its narrative, Wonderstone delivers nothing new, but it’s not every day that a film about magicians gets made. The writers and filmmakers made full use of this fact and took typical scenarios and interpreted them into something that honestly made you think “I can’t believe I haven’t seen that joke on screen before”. There was something quite timeless about the humour in that way, and what they were able to do with the film, therefore, predictable or otherwise, came out feeling fresh, entertaining and hilarious. Possibly destined to be a modern cult comedy favourite, much in the same way as Anchorman or Zoolander, ignore the precedent set by past big budget Hollywood comedies and come and enjoy the laughs.
It’s great to see Carrey back doing what he does best, too. Being absolutely moronic. Or as he put is during the Q&A at SXSW yesterday, as a “warped cultural mixed edition, part David Blaine and part Criss Angel”. A horrifying example of what might come next? I think he said that too…
Review Score: 8.0 out of 10.
