Review of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) by Jason W — 05 Aug 2013

Superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) have ruled the Las Vegas Strip for years, raking in millions with illusions as big as Burt's growing ego. But lately the duo's greatest deception is their public friendship, while secretly they've grown to loathe each other. Facing cutthroat competition from guerrilla street magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), whose cult following surges with each outrageous stunt, even their show is starting to look stale. But there's still a chance Burt and Anton can save the act - both onstage and off - if only Burt can get back in touch with what made him love magic in the first place...

Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi and Jim Carrey in weird wigs. Check. Steve Carell acting as he always does. Check. Random weirdness from Jim Carrey. Check. A flat character script. Check. "Slip on a banana peel loud over the top" scenes. Check. An uneven script. Check. "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" has a major flaw in my opinion and that is actually Steve Carell. His one dimensional acting that makes everything looks like he is just doing another version of Michael Scott in "The Office" makes this movie more or less a drag. A scattered laughter here and there is not enough to satisfy. The tone is uneven, segueing between dark comedy and family film, the extreme stunts of Carrey's Steve Gray, and sentimentality, and serious drama and farcical comedy. A classic situation where the production company just didn´t figure out which direction to take and stick with it.