The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Review

He's got another trick up his sleeve---Jim Carrey as a new street magician who goes up against another magician (Steve Carrell) in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
                                          Magic has always been a fascinating subject to me. This is mostly due to the fact that magicians have a special skill of tricking people right in front of their faces. The fact that this skill that magicians have is skewered is one of the many reasons I thoroughly enjoyed The Incredible Burt Wonderstone....an extremely funny and surprisingly smart comedy about a pair of long-time magicians who must go up against a new street "magician."

                                            The long-time magicians are Burt (Steve Carrell) and Anton (Steve Buscemi) and the new street "magician" is Steve Gray (Jim Carrey.) All the while....Burt's trying to get his boss (James Gandolfini) to not fire him and meets the man who got him into magic in the first place (Alan Arkin.)

                                              Carrey is as funny as he's ever been here. The last time he was this funny on screen was in  Liar Liar 16 years ago. Carrell is also very funny even if he doesn't give Burt the edge he should have. Buscemi gets some surprising laughs and Arkin gives the character of Rance Holloway significantly more heart than was deserved. The film is very smart in the way that it presents the idea of illusion magic vs Gray's idea of magic which is simply hurting himself as much as possible. As well---the film is very funny in the way it gives the audience the idea that magic is just stuff we just are too dumb to realize is there.

                                                Olivia Wilde shows up as Burt's new assistant Jane and is very funny. The film also makes the best use of Steve Miller Band's song "Abracadabra" you will ever see. Also....the film features a very funny role from Jay Mohr as a magician so dumb he's unaware of how dumb he is.

                                                  While it does peter out a bit towards the end and becomes a bit too sappy...The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is highly recommended. Funny, smart and featuring a terrific performance by Jim Carrey---it is worth throwing down ten dollars if you feel like laughing out loud this weekend.
(4 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for sexual content, dangerous stunts, a drug related incident and language)