Quick Plot:
4 Magicians rob some banks using techniques of distraction and tricks.
Quick Cast:
The Facebook dude, Woody Harrelson, the new baby hulk, Morgan Freeman, that girl from wedding crashers and James Franco's lil bro!
Review:
From the trailers, you would think this movie would be a mind-blowing story filled with twists and turns that would have you wondering how in the world these tricks worked. Unfortunately, this is one of those instances where the trailer out does the actual movie. Throughout the film, it is hard to know which character or characters you are supposed to root for. The magicians seem smug, that Morgan Freeman character seems shady, batman's butler is a douche and baby hulk is your prototypical donut cop. While the acting was pretty good (the only things keeping this movie from an F), the characters were far from fully developed. Movie-Zuckerberg along with Woody Harrelson provided the witty banter exchanges you would expect, but both characters came off as annoying comeback kings desperate to make each response more clever than the last. Mark Ruffulo does a pretty good job, but his character is helpless weeny. The rest of the characters are almost forgettable although Freeman turns in a pretty good performance (as he always does).
The movie seemed to drag on for way too long with little surprises. Ironically, this movie would probably have real magicians sick to their stomachs with many of the explanations to the tricks being more than obvious and cheap. Ocean's Eleven had more of a witty and clever twist to their heist. Although most magic tricks have a disappointing taste once revealed, this movie gave little to no allure for the art of magic. They could have at least made some more dynamic explanations or even kept some of them to your own imagination.
It was no surprise that the movie had a big twist at the end. While you knew it was coming, it's easy to lose interest throughout the film. The only thing stopping you from leaving the theatre was the unspoken understanding that there was going to be a major twist at the end. Even with the "oh man I didn't see it coming" moment, the ending feels like a .99 cent taco at 7-Eleven: cheesy and half-baked. When you retrace the steps in the movie, there are several unexplained holes in the plot and you're left wondering if you had been rooting for the right person all along.
Where/When Should I See This:
Wait for the movie to come out on... TV. I wouldn't even rent this movie or even give it a try on Netflix. I would wait until it was on TBS or TNT as long as a Nicholas Cage movie wasn't on at the same time.
Overall Grade: D+
Overall Grade: D+
