Magically Reviewed: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
The new Steve Carrell comedy reviewed by a real-life magician, because, you know, magicians.
Movies, we all love them. Even magicians. We found a professional magician, and asked him to review the new comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, because obviously it’s a momentous occasion in the world of magic. It seems that it touched him, much like that movie No Reservations appealed to our chef friends: we all want to see ourselves depicted on-screen. Anyway, magic: it’s magic.
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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, the new comedy featuring Steve Carrell, Jim Carrey and Steve Buscemi, explores the general shift in the magic world from traditional stage magicians to today’s close-up “street” magicians. Rivalry between the two schools of thought has always existed in the industry, but the film depicts it in quite a positive light. Sometimes it’s the rivalry that challenges magicians to rediscover and reinvent their magic, to practice their art and perfect it.
The opening scene, depicting the young Burt Wonderstone, reminded me of receiving my first magic kit from my mum and dad, and my first performance at my school’s Year Six fete. All those memories flooded back, the exhilaration I would experience when I amazed my friends with a trick I’d worked so hard to get right. I’d imagine the film captures the same experience for other magicians: their own journey into the art of magic, from that very first kit to the constant search for new acts to perfect.
The cast do an excellent job of skewering the stereotypes of both traditional and modern magicians. Steve Carell plays the traditional stage illusionist, Burt Wonderstone, and he fills the part fantastically: cheesy costumes, over-the-top choreography, and dramatised facial expressions and stage gestures really capture the old-school traditional magicians I remember well from childhood TV specials. Then there’s Jim Carrey, who nails the part of Steve Gray, the up-and-coming fresh face of modern magic. He’s an eccentric character (and a bit of a jerk) on a mission to destroy traditional magic and usher in the new world of close-up magic. His outrageously ridiculous stunts – endurance tests like holding his pee for 12 days – lampoon the likes of Criss Angel and David Blaine. Some may know Criss Angel from his TV show, Mind Freak; in the film, Steve Gray’s show is called Brain Rapist.
The movie’s filled with similar references to mainstream magic. Alongside Carrey’s take on Blaine and Angel, there are two characters who work with wild animals, Siegfreid and Roy-style, and one of them is constantly getting mauled. Without revealing too much, there’s also a quick cameo by David Copperfield, who acted as a consultant on the film. Copperfield is and always will be a legend in the magic community for his role in skyrocketing magic into the general public.
As far as the tricks go, the ‘Grand Finale’ is the most impressive. The thought of being able to vanish an entire audience, have them reappear somewhere completely different, and then bring them back to the theatre, all without their knowledge, is amazing. The act is so impossible that the movie gets good comedic mileage highlighting the logistics necessary in achieving such a feat. I believe David Copperfield has actually toyed with this idea in the past, by having a select few audience members vanish offstage and reappear in the middle of his audience. To my knowledge, though, vanishing a whole theatre has not yet been attempted. Of course, much of the magic in the movie is CGI, camera tricks. There were some beautiful sleight-of-hand sequences and another stage act called ‘The Hangman’ that was highly enjoyable, but the movie is more focused on the meaning of magic, the awe and wonder that we give an audience, rather than the actual tricks performed.
The movie should be well received by the magic community. To me, it’s a very good depiction of a magician’s life. I know that many magicians out there were lonely kids like Burt Wonderstone, who found confidence, friends and self-esteem in their first magic kit. As the years pass, we all struggle with our magic, perhaps even lose ourselves and give up on the whole show. But it doesn’t take much to remember what we love about the art and why we chose to do what we do. It’s then that we’re filled with the motivation to go back to our roots, our notes, and strive for something special. Deep down, that’s what The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is all about.
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Jean-Christophe Celestin is a professional mentalist magician based in Sydney. Book him for weddings, parties, anything through magique.com.au