There was a time that Jim Carrey was the headliner, but now Steve Carell has the star billing. In Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) the film
opens in 1982 to young Burt being bullied by the neighborhood kids. Burt self-teaches himself to escape them through illusions. At home he entertains himself with Magical games since his mother is never around. But at least he’s got Anton (Steve Buscemi) another nerd, who thinks Burt and his magic are cool.
Fast forward years later and the two grow up to be Las Vegas showmen looking like the love children of The Bee Gees and Sigfried &
Roy. When Club owner (James Gandolfini) spots them doing their silly “Abracadabra” [Steve Miller] opening, he takes them to Vegas
where the two become an overnight success. That is until their magical show gets anemic, even with their cute assistant (Olivia Wilde.)
Enter Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) a street magician who stops at nothing to get You Tube attention that includes holding his urine for a week or
sleeping on hot coals. But the truth is he’s not a magician. He makes his money off of doing nothing but being himself. A heartless guy.
The film is ridiculous silly fun, and Carell is over-the-top in Diva mode, until his inner-Diva magician has to become human from failure. That segue works, as does the sensitivity of Wilde and Buscemi. Carrey steals the film with the same ferocity as he did in his earlier career in The Mask and also Farrelly Brothers’ films. But somehow in the end, as goofy as it is, it doesn’t hold you in laughs the way say Will Farrell’s outlandish characters can.
Alan Arkin adds to the mix as their guru Magician who first inspired Burt as a child, and even David Copperfield makes a cameo as himself. ♕♚♛