The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Burt Wonderstone is a Vegas Magician along side his best friend, Anton Marvelton. The movie opens up with the two as children, and shows how magic brought them together. We now skip forward and see them still doing shows together, and still seemingly best of friends. Once the show is over though that all goes away. The broken friendship puts a strain on their  act, as does new comer magician Steve Gray played by Jim Carrey.

While this is a comedy, one thing you must ask yourself is simply do you like Steve Carell? I for one am not a fan of him or his movies, and while this movie works well regardless of that, it is something to consider. He plays this role just like he does every other one, which turned me off at first. However with a strong supporting cast of Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, and Jim Carrey, I was able to find other reasons to keep watching. Most of the comedy comes in 2 flavors, awkward or grotesque. Watching Carell and Buscemi interact will make you cringe, but in a good way. They work well together, and provide some of the more memorable scenes. This is where the awkward comedy comes into play, easy example would be the magic show. Watching them grind on their assistant and having Carell make creepy advances on every attractive female will make you cringe. The grotesque humor comes from Carrey who is a more modern magician. He is ripping off the "Mind Freak" gimmick, and does similar street magic that is more based off of style then substance. He goes by the handle of Steve Gray, mind rapist. You will see him cut himself, burn and scar himself, and many other fun things as ways of getting you to laugh and be disgusted at the same time.

The story is forgettable, but the laughs are there. This is not a great comedy you will want to own and watch over and over, but it does well enough for a red box rental.