I have been SWAMPED! It has been about a month (maybe more?) since my last post, and I really meant to do a couple of these a week. But for those of you who don’t know, I have a full-time job while going to school part-time, and I also have been making it a priority to exercise daily. So, I am changing this up a bit for the time being. I have definitely still been watching movies, but not quite as intentionally as I was previously. So, until things calm down, we are going to start calling these “distracted reviews”, in that I am certainly not giving these movies my 100% focus. So, the first of my “distracted reviews” series will be “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”, starring Steve Carrell. Here is the trailer.
I kind of remember when this movie came out, maybe? I feel like this was that weird time after which Steve Carrell left the office, but still had the star power to be a draw. There are definitely parts about this i feel like I’ve seen before, but when i turned this on today, I had no recollection of actually watching the film prior. If i had to grade this film, I’d probably give it a C+, which means it isnt offensively bad, but it isn’t really something I’d recommend to people.
Lets get into what it actually is about… Steve Carrell and Steve Buscemi play a team of magicians on the Vegas scene, having been a fixture for the past decade. But, due to a refusal to update or adjust their show, they have been facing dwindling ticket sales for the latter half of their tenure. It is about this time when Jim Carrey’s Chris Angel-knockoff character comes on the scene and starts to really capture the public audience, with his brand of magic being less skillful sleight of hand/misdirection and more “stupid human tricks”. So, in an effort to compete, the duo attempts a stunt of their own, to disastrous results. As a result, the duo splits.
After the split, Carrell attempts to carry on the two-man show a one-man show, utterly failing on every level. He is fired, only to then end up on the doorstep of the pair’s former assistant, played by Olivia Wilde. She also has magical ambitions, and offers to be his partner. Carrell, being a self-involved misogynist himself, ends up making some elitist comment about her not being able to be a magician “because she is a woman”, and she kicks him out.
After that, he ends up becoming a magician at an old age home, only to run into HIS former magical inspiration, played by Alan Arkin. Alan Arkin helps him regain his passion for magic, eventually scoring an audition with his former Vegas casino owner-boss for his new location. Through a few rushed events in the last 20 minutes, Carrell reunites with Buscemi, gets over his misogynistic tendencies so he can offer Olivia Wilde an equal part in his act. Then, the now-trio (with a little help from Alan Arkin’s character) end up winning the audition and getting the role of their life.
Lets be real… this movie is harmless. It isn’t wildly offensive in any way I can tell, and it is pretty on-par for the level of comedies in its class. The fact that I cannot think of any other comedy that came out around 2013 to compare this to isn’t great; it means that in 5 years i probably won’t remember much about this movie either. But, what the hell, lets go through the actors.
Carrell is fine. He plays an entitled man-child, one that doesn’t really know how to live in the real world because he has been in showbiz his entire adult life. It’s fine. He basically is just doing his Michael Scott, only in this universe people don’t find it ridiculous. Buscemi plays the straight man, whereas he is slightly more in tune with reality but still pretty weird. He is really just sort of there. The guy CAN act, but he is wasted here.
Olivia Wilde and Alan Arkin are both pretty good here. I will be up-front, I’m pretty biased on Ms. Wilde. I find her to be a far better actress than she probably is objectively, and I think it has something to do with the depth of her eyes and her facial features. She could quite literally play “Bane” in the next Batman movie and I would find a way to think she is great. Alan Arkin, on the other hand, is always that same character. I don’t really know what he did when he was younger, but I am glad he is one of the “seasoned aged character actors” in 2020. And yes, i know i could IMDB the guy, but I don’t feel like it; get the hell off my back.
Oh, and Jim Carrey. I thought his schtick was entertaining in the 90s. “Crazy dude” is ok when you are in your 20’s. It gets old when you hit your 40s. If a 1 on the Carrey-scale is “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind”, and a 10 is “Ace Ventura”, I think he played this about an 8 (“Liar Liar”). It probably would’ve been better if he had played it about at 5 (“Yes, Man”). Jim Carrey 2013 was a bit sad… not as bad as the 2020 version, but still not great.
So, lets wrap this up, since I have already put way more thought into this C+ movie than it probably deserves. This movie is perfectly adequate as a way to was an hour and 40 minutes. If you are stuck on a plane and this is an option, it is better than talking to the weird dude who has Cheeto-powder all over himself in the seat next to you. If you are curious about this movie, I say watch the trailer… about 75% of the best scenes are prominently displayed.
Oh, and if you are an Olivia Wilde fan and are on a mission to watch all her stuff… that is time WELL spent.
Ain't That Bad - Movie Blog 