Review of The Magic Christian (1969) by Catherine S — 28 Aug 2010

It's really hard for me to decide whether this movie is a "fresh" or a "rotten" for me since it dwells on both sides, but I'll just give it a fresh. The Magic Christian stars Peter Sellers as Guy Grand, an extremely rich man who throughout the movie uses money to get people to do strange things, claiming that "every person has his price.

" Ringo Starr also stars as Youngman Grand, an orphan who's adopted by Guy Grand on a whim. The problem with the film is that for the most part, it's just Peter Sellers speaking the entire time, which I don't have a huge problem with, it's just it's sometimes hard to understand what exactly he's saying.

And, maybe because I'm a Beatles fan, I was hoping Ringo Starr would have more lines in the film. Pretty much the entire movie, his lines consist of "Yes Dad!" or "You're right Dad!", and it gets dull very quickly.

The movie is filled with sexual jokes that are more shocking than funny, and gross out humor that doesn't make you giggle, it makes you squirm. Besides all that, The Magic Christian has its moments with jokes that made me laugh and a (mostly one repeated song) but still good soundtrack by Badfinger.

For the average movie goer, don't mark it completely off as disposable movie fare. It's got some bits here and there that are quite enjoyable, but for the most part it squanders the potential it had to be a funny film by adding in too much jokes involving sexual content and women in sleazy wear.

Plus, the script really needed some work. Overall, it's not very good, but if you're a die hard Peter Sellers and/or Ringo Starr fan, you probably should still put this at the very bottom of your movie "to do" list.

Side Note: After watching this, I wondered how Ringo Starr keeps ending up in films like this, when he could be in much better movies, I mean he has the talent. And it feels like he's and will be type-casted as the "little boy in a grown up body" role.

Real rating: 66%.