The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Fun while it lasts

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a goofy little throwback to the kind of movies we saw in the first half of the 2000s which more than often starred Will Ferrell. This by no stretch of imagination ranks amongst the cast's great movies but it's perfectly harmless fun worth plenty of chuckles and solid laugh or two.

Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) & Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) are two Vegas magicians who are in the twilight of their so far illustrious careers. The new kid on the block is Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), a David Blaine wannabe who's a street magician and aims to wow a whole new generation of audience. Burt looses his mojo and breaks off his partnership with Anton only to end up performing at an old-age home. Here he meet's his childhood hero, Rance (Alan Arkin) who convinces him to return to the field and challenge Steve Gray and see who can pull off a grander trick to amaze the audience, thus reclaiming his spot on top of the food chain.

What I particularly enjoyed was how Jim Carrey and Steve Carell embrace the goofiness of their characters and play them out in a manner that never lets go the energy that the movie possesses. Carrey in particular walks that fine line between zaniness and buffoonery with absolute precision. Carell on the other hand has that clueless goofball spot on like he always does. Good support comes from the rest of the cast but none are standouts.

The movie is a breezy watch that'll keep you entertained, though the pace does slacken in the middle, it keeps throwing gags at you.