{"id":1674,"date":"2013-04-04T15:02:55","date_gmt":"2013-04-04T14:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/up\/wordpress\/2013\/04\/04\/little-magic-in-the-incredible-burt-wonderstone\/"},"modified":"2022-10-29T16:38:03","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T15:38:03","slug":"little-magic-in-the-incredible-burt-wonderstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/little-magic-in-the-incredible-burt-wonderstone\/","title":{"rendered":"Little magic in \u2018The Incredible Burt Wonderstone\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The only incredible thing about \u2018The Incredible Burt Wonderstone\u2019 is the way it makes Steve Carell so thoroughly and irreparably unlikeable. In a film about magic tricks, this is the most difficult feat of all.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even when Carell is playing characters who are nerdy (\u2018The 40-Year-Old Virgin\u2019) or needy (\u2018Crazy, Stupid, Love\u2019) or clueless (TV\u2019s \u2018The Office\u2019) or just plain odd (\u2018Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy\u2019), there\u2019s usually an inherent decency that shines through and makes him seem relatable, vulnerable, human. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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None of those qualities exists within Burt Wonderstone, a selfish and flashy Las Vegas magician who once ruled the Strip alongside his longtime friend and partner, Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi), but now finds his act has grown outdated and unpopular. Even within the confines of a comedy sketch, where he probably belongs, Burt would seem one-dimensional and underdeveloped with his hacky jokes and tacky clothes. Stretched out to feature length, the shtick becomes nearly unbearable \u2014 until of course, the movie doles out its obligatory comeuppance, followed by redemption, and goes all soft and nice. By then, it\u2019s too little, too late.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Burt Wonderstone\u2019 comes to us from director Don Scardino, a television veteran who\u2019s a two-time Emmy-winner for his work on \u201830 Rock\u2019, and \u2018Horrible Bosses\u2019 writers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. It has some scattered laughs, many of them courtesy of Jim Carrey as a gonzo, up-and-coming street performer with a taste for pain, clearly modelled after the Criss Angel style of stunt artistry. (The character\u2019s cable TV show is called \u2018Brain Rapist\u2019, if that gives you an idea.)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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And there is some spark to the scenes between Carell and his \u2018Little Miss Sunshine\u2019 co-star Alan Arkin as the master magician who inspired Burt as a lonely child and now lives anonymously at the nursing home where Burt is relegated to doing card tricks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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These small joys are few and far between in a comedy that\u2019s mostly reliant on repetitive sights gags and increasingly desperate one-upmanship.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Magic for self-esteem<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In theory, we\u2019re supposed to feel for Burt because we see him being bullied in a flashback at the film\u2019s start. The nerdy, neglected child of a hard-working single mom, Burt turned to magic for self-esteem, and found friendship with the like-minded and equally geeky Anton. Their mentor was the old-school Rance Holloway (Arkin), whose moves they watched repeatedly on VHS.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Thirty years later, Burt and Anton are longtime headliners at Bally\u2019s, going through the same bit night after night with little inspiration. For totally unexplained reasons, they hate each other \u2014 probably because Burt has become a dismissive, abusive jerk. This is not Carell\u2019s strong suit. Also part of the act is their latest assistant, Jane, although Burt insists on calling her Nicole because her real name simply doesn\u2019t matter to him. The role is a huge waste of Olivia Wilde, who\u2019s stuck playing the supportive \u201cgirl\u201d, and isn\u2019t given much chance to show how funny, sexy or smart she truly is.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Burt and Anton find not just their friendship but their careers in jeopardy as Carrey\u2019s daring Steve Gray steals away the fans and attention with more and more outlandish acts: ridiculous stuff like sleeping overnight on hot coals and holding his urine for several days straight. With his long hair, shirtless, sinewy frame and charismatic demeanour, Carrey functions like a manic, subversive Christ figure. Although he\u2019s too old to be playing an upstart, he gives it his all, as always. Meanwhile, the suddenly ubiquitous James Gandolfini has an amusing line or two as Burt and Anton\u2019s preening casino boss.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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But it\u2019s hard to care about how far the duo will fall or whether they can make a comeback \u2014 which is never in question \u2014 because there\u2019s nothing for us to hold on to as an audience. If Carell\u2019s character is one-note, Buscemi sadly gets even less to do besides play the sweet, beleaguered second fiddle.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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And after it\u2019s over, poof! You\u2019ll forget you ever watched it in the first place.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The only incredible thing about \u2018The Incredible Burt Wonderstone\u2019 is the way it makes Steve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,56],"tags":[2043,68,2051,1997,916,105,2044],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity","category-news","tag-burt","tag-in","tag-incredible","tag-little","tag-magic","tag-the","tag-wonderstone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3335,"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions\/3335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}