The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Reivew
RYAN: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone marks the return of Jim Carrey to the big screen but he’s just a supporting character here. It’s really Steve Carell’s movie. Sadly, for the beginning half of the film, Steve was almost approaching that Ben Stiller/Adam Sandler territory where he’s not fresh anymore but he redeemed himself. Regardless, it’s not a very good film.
KEVIN: I didn’t need to see this in the theater. This wasn’t one of Carrey’s or Carell’s best performances and I tend to like buddy comedy flicks.
RYAN: The wigs, makeup and costumes were really great – the Vegas concept throughout it all was well done but that’s all surface stuff when the movie itself is so problematic.
KEVIN: Olivia Wilde wasn’t impressive either in this role. You could tell she was acting half the time.
RYAN: Not her best work. My biggest problem with the film is that the last third is so implausible that the story really jumps the shark. It ruined the movie for me because it was so fake.
KEVIN: Yeah the second half of the film is too outlandish. It’s not believable or even funny.
RYAN: I liked Steve Buscemi. He had a good bromance with Steve. And the introductory scenes of the film were pretty strong.
KEVIN: Yeah it was a nice set-up and I thought it would be funnier from that point on than it was. What could be funnier than a spoof on how serious some magicians are? There are a lot of missed opportunities here.
RYAN: And Jim Carrey is like a Chris Angel type in this. His character just went too far and it wasn’t funny. As much as I like him, it was too much.
KEVIN: I’m a big fan of magic. I still go to magic shops and buy tricks periodically. But the trend now is the street performer, started by David Blaine and followed by the Chris Angels of the world. It’s a real trend. I think Jim could have been funnier. This reminded me of that dark kind of character he played in The Cable Guy.
RYAN: Alan Arkin was amazing in this movie. He was actually the scene stealer in this film.
KEVIN: He’s awesome. He plays angry old guy so well.
RYAN: And he even plays a younger version of his character in this and was great. He was the strongest part of the movie.
— BOTTOM LINE —
KEVIN: I’d say it’s a rental.
RYAN: It’s not a really decent movie. The strongest parts were the music and the design. That was all stronger than the script and performances.
