Take a look at this cast: Steve Carrell, Steve Buscemi, and Jim Carrey as the leads, with support from Oliva Wilde, James Gandolfini, and Alan Arkin. As movies go, that is a pretty good line-up. But the main problem with The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which you may have guessed features all these actors, is it never uses the cast to it's fullest. Sure they put in good performances, but they never reach the heights we know they can, especially Carrey, who will no doubt be the main draw for people to go see this. It's not a terrible movie, far from it, but when you waste talent like this, there is something wrong.
So, story first. Steve Carrell is Burt Wonderstone, an egotistical Las Vegas stage magician whose selfish attitude is putting a strain on his relationship with long time friend and stage partner Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi, an actor I love in everything he does, but comedy most of all). With their act being threatened by street magician Steve Grey (Jim Carrey), they are pushed over the edge and go their separate ways, leaving Burt to get his life back together and re-discover why he fell in love with magic in the first place. I've heard it described as "Anchorman with magicians", and that sums it up pretty nicely.
The movie starts with Burt as a child, falling in love with magic, and forging a friendship with a young Anton over their status as school outcasts and bully fodder. It sets the story up nicely, but then drops the ball by fast forwarding 30 years to Burt as a jaded, egotisical jerk, giving us no context as to how the wide eyed boy we saw in the opening minutes changed so drastically. The pace of the story is another real problem. It speeds through the set up, then hits a lull quite early on, stopping and starting it's way to the finale. I watched this on 35mm, and at times I thought the print was assembled wrong, since scenes just sort of happened. Burt's redemption seemed to occur off camera, Grey became the cackling, mustache twirling villain of the piece out of nowhere, and so on.
I may be coming across as overly harsh. Maybe I am a bit since I was really looking forward to this, but there is still a lot of fun to be had with The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. I could count the number of laugh out loud moments on one hand, with three fingers left over, but you will be left chuckling pretty much the whole way through. There are a few really inspired scenes, especially some of Grey's more outrageous stunts, Anton's mis-guided attempt to help the needy, and a magic-off at a birthday party. The send up of the Vegas life style is nicely pitched, especially Gandolfini as a greedy Casino owner. For all the movies problems, you can't fault the actors, who really make the most of what they have. Carrell plays Burt's fall from grace really well, really selling himself as a selfish jerk struggling to get his life back. It's a character arc we've seen time and time again, but he keeps it fresh. Anton does feel a bit under written, but Buscemi makes it work, as does Wilde, saddled with the love interest role. When I first saw the trailer, I predicted Alan Arkin would steal the show for me, and he almost does, being his crotchety best as the magician who first got Burt interested in magic, but is pipped to the post by Carrey, who plays a blinder as the Criss Angel/David Blaine-like Grey. It is at the right side of over the top, and his final scene is fantastic.
For all it's problems, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is still a good bit of fun, helped by a fanatstic cast.
So, story first. Steve Carrell is Burt Wonderstone, an egotistical Las Vegas stage magician whose selfish attitude is putting a strain on his relationship with long time friend and stage partner Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi, an actor I love in everything he does, but comedy most of all). With their act being threatened by street magician Steve Grey (Jim Carrey), they are pushed over the edge and go their separate ways, leaving Burt to get his life back together and re-discover why he fell in love with magic in the first place. I've heard it described as "Anchorman with magicians", and that sums it up pretty nicely.
The movie starts with Burt as a child, falling in love with magic, and forging a friendship with a young Anton over their status as school outcasts and bully fodder. It sets the story up nicely, but then drops the ball by fast forwarding 30 years to Burt as a jaded, egotisical jerk, giving us no context as to how the wide eyed boy we saw in the opening minutes changed so drastically. The pace of the story is another real problem. It speeds through the set up, then hits a lull quite early on, stopping and starting it's way to the finale. I watched this on 35mm, and at times I thought the print was assembled wrong, since scenes just sort of happened. Burt's redemption seemed to occur off camera, Grey became the cackling, mustache twirling villain of the piece out of nowhere, and so on.
I may be coming across as overly harsh. Maybe I am a bit since I was really looking forward to this, but there is still a lot of fun to be had with The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. I could count the number of laugh out loud moments on one hand, with three fingers left over, but you will be left chuckling pretty much the whole way through. There are a few really inspired scenes, especially some of Grey's more outrageous stunts, Anton's mis-guided attempt to help the needy, and a magic-off at a birthday party. The send up of the Vegas life style is nicely pitched, especially Gandolfini as a greedy Casino owner. For all the movies problems, you can't fault the actors, who really make the most of what they have. Carrell plays Burt's fall from grace really well, really selling himself as a selfish jerk struggling to get his life back. It's a character arc we've seen time and time again, but he keeps it fresh. Anton does feel a bit under written, but Buscemi makes it work, as does Wilde, saddled with the love interest role. When I first saw the trailer, I predicted Alan Arkin would steal the show for me, and he almost does, being his crotchety best as the magician who first got Burt interested in magic, but is pipped to the post by Carrey, who plays a blinder as the Criss Angel/David Blaine-like Grey. It is at the right side of over the top, and his final scene is fantastic.
For all it's problems, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is still a good bit of fun, helped by a fanatstic cast.
