![]() ![]() In particular, the love story between Wilde and Carell grinds the movie to a halt every 10-15 minutes. It’s an irritating trend that’s been part of comedy screenwriting for decades and manages to suck all of the fun out of Burt Wonderstone rather than supplementing it. Unfortunately like most mainstream comedies of this type, the movie is then derailed for about half an hour to become touchy-feely emotional while teaching the audience lessons about being humble, the importance of friends, and how to fall in love. The answer is sadly “no.” There are some nice laughs found in the first 45 minutes or so as Carell plays Ron Burgundy-lite while putting on some fairly funny big magic act parodies. But could redemption possibly come in Carell making friends with his childhood magic idol Alan Arkin who just happens to live in the retirement home or maybe by making love with his former assistant/magician hopeful Olivia Wilde? Hey, how about both? Wouldn’t that be extra satisfying? It seems like things couldn’t get any worse. The lifelong duo split up and Carell suffers a series of humiliations before ending up performing tricks in a Vegas retirement home for lunch scraps. Carell’s Vegas boss James Gandolfini fires his star duo after getting tired of the douchebaggery. Now they’re into gothic street magicians like Jim Carrey’s rubber-faced Criss Angel riff who does “tricks” liking hammering nails into wood with his face. You see, folks are tired of the old Vegas illusions. He’s lost any love of magic and his audiences dwindle accordingly. He lives for ridiculous haircuts, gaudy Vegas penthouse privileges, and bedding a beautiful audience assistant night after night. ![]() An opening montage shows their rise to illusionist power, but by the time the plot kicks into gear Carell has settled into the comedy type of the abrasive a-hole who takes all of his success for granted. He discovered magic as an awkward wee lad and dedicated his life to pursuing his showbiz dreams with a childhood partner in crime played by Steve Buscemi. Steve Carell stars as an absurdly glitzy and bare-chested Vegas magician stuck out of time. Unfortunately Burt Wonderstone quickly falls into a “showbiz-asshole-gets-redeemed/the girl” arc so tedious that it sucks away any sense of subversive joy the comic minds involved delivered almost instantly. There’s a far better movie that could have been made with this exact premise and cast that went for Anchorman-style inspired cartoon anarchy with little time for logic or emotion. The world of professional magicians might be just silly enough to warrant parody, but this one is so limp and out of date that it never really takes advantage of the subject matter. However, it’s also meets those expectations to the point of reaching wild heights of predictable dullness. There are funny moments throughout and it’s a big glossy production that hits all the expected notes before fading to black at this the right time. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is exactly the movie you’d expect from Steve Carell, the writers of Horrible Bosses, and a TV director making his big screen debut. ![]()
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