Review of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) by Dirckh — 17 Mar 2013

My friend and I went to see the INCREDIBLE BURT WEATHERSTONE yesterday, and I roared with laughter right up to the end. She on the other hand got more and more pissed off as the movie went on, and came out calling it "vile.".

Well, some movies are like that, Especially the interesting ones. Very often comedies can use unspeakable cruel jokes to make the audience laugh. If anybody is old enough to remember, one of the classic moments of slapstick comedy is when an adorable little dog is squashed flat on a London sidewalk by a falling object in A FISH CALLED WANDA.

It had the audience rolling in the aisles.

The essential story is, without giving away the story is that there are two magicians who after a lifetime of working together as friends and hitting the big time in Vegas, see their audiences melting away, as a new totally evil magician becomes the hit of the town, mainly with jokes that feature self-laceration. You laugh at the good guys, when they are hitting it, and wince when the baddie does lhis act..as in Yeech!

The good guys are washed up, and they have to come up with the biggest trick in history to save their act. It features Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Jim Carrey, James Gandolfini as the Casino owner. What they propose is simply impossible, and yet they pull it off.

Here is where the movie suddenly runs into a HUGE problem. After performing the stunt, director Don.

Scrardino BREAKS THE FIRST LAW OF MAGIC. He shows you how it was done. To say that it was illegal, dangerous and done in a heartless manner is not putting too fine a line on it. All the good will that had built up.

Over the past two hours toward the film is shattered in a few minutes.

He could have solved the problem easily by just not showing you the mechanics involved.It's the old story of everybody likes sausages, but no one ever wants to see how they are made.

It will be interesting to read your comments. I enjoyed myself thoroughly right up to the last four minutes, but wound up leaving the theatre with a bad taste in my mouth.