The Incredible Burt Wonderstone works its magic on movie-goers

I have always loved magic. The first TV shows I can remember watching featured magical beings (Samantha, Jeannie). I had a magic kit, and I went to The Magic Box at the local mall any chance I had to see the newest tricks for sale. I got books from the library about making your own magic tricks and read books about the classic magicians, watched all of the David Copperfield specials on TV, and even recently read a book about early 20th century magicians, Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear, that obviously influenced the illusions in the movie The Illusionist.

So I greeted the release of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone with a mixture of excitement for a movie about magic, and trepidation because it’s a comedy about Vegas magicians that could possibly fall flat. In the movies, magic is easy, comedy is hard.

But as the film unspooled, I found myself charmed by the story of young Burt, the kid picked on at school who found himself when he got a magic kit for his birthday. I could really relate to this outsider and his love of magic, and with his new-found hobby he also gets a new friend, Anton, who is even more socially awkward than Burt. The two begin to concoct ideas for their own illusions, and over the course of a thirty year friendship, they grow into a huge act in Vegas, The Incredible Burt & Anton, with their own theater in one of the Strip’s major hotels. But after ten years, Burt is showing his boredom with the act, and with the coming of a new magician (in the loosest sense of the word), Steve Gray, Burt finds his act has grown stale with audiences as well, and an attempt to compete with Gray only destroys his friendship with Anton. Is there anything that can give Burt that magical spark again, or will the Steve Gray’s of the world become the new face of magic?

While The Incredible Burt Wonderstone has the magic act and the rivalry with Steve Gray at its core, the film’s strongest component is the friendship between Burt and Anton, and how breaking up the act finally humbles the guy who didn’t realize room service does not deliver outside of the hotel. We see Burt become a pompous ass, happy to go through the motions as long as the money is coming in, not even willing to acknowledge that the act hasn’t changed in ten years while Anton is begging to add some new content. When Steve Gray shows up (a thinly veiled mash-up of Criss Angel and David Blaine) with his new magic that is really just endurance stunts and becomes the hot, new magician on the Vegas Strip (without so much as a costume!), we see Burt become a broken man resigned to his fate and even though he was the villain early on, we root for him to regain his mojo and take down the real villain, Steve Gray.

Burt Wonderstone could have been a completely unlikable ass in the hands of a less-skilled comic actor, but Steve Carrell can do that kind of a blowhard and still find something redeemable about him. Burt’s arrogance and complacency is quickly broken down when he loses his grand suite at the hotel and is forced to room with his magician’s assistant Nicole (her name is actually Jane – played by Olivia Wilde – but Burt seems to know her only by her stage name) … and even she can’t have him in her apartment for more than a couple of hours. We begin to feel for Burt as he realizes his dream has come to an end, and we root for him to make a comeback (and reconcile with Anton) after he meets his idol, Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin), and finds that spark that first set him on the path to being a magician. It really is a nice performance.

Steve Buscemi also does a nice job as Anton, standing up to Burt as their dream collapses around them, showing his true passion for the act but being emotionally wounded when he realizes Burt only sees him as a glorified assistant. I really liked Olivia Wilde’s performance as her Jane has to put up with Burt’s sexist attitude (women can’t be magicians), but even she can see something in him that he can’t. Jim Carrey gets to be his classic over-the-top self with Steve’s outlandish stunts, but he also helps shine a spotlight on the ridiculousness of these stunt men posing as magicians (holding your pee for a week is not a magic act). And, once again, Alan Arkin makes it all look so easy as both the young and old Rance Holloway. His supporting role as Burt’s reluctant mentor is just as good as his Oscar-nominated role in Argo. Arkin really helps ground the movie with his performance and brings some much-needed warmth to Carrell’s character.

Overall, I was totally charmed by The Incredible Burt Wonderstone because it really shows respect for the classic stage magician and calls out those who label stunts as “magic.” Director Don Scardino and the writers, including John Francis Daley (who has a cameo as an EMT), seem to have a real love for classic magic acts (they even managed to get Copperfield for a cameo) even as they poke fun at the likes of Siegfried and Roy and the poor schlub stuck doing his act in the lounge. The cast, from the stars to the supporting players, always manage to keep their characters real, and this melding of charming script with talented actors really makes the movie, dare I say it, magical.