The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is expected to take the # 1 spot at the box office this weekend, but the general consensus from top industry critics is the comedy film just isn’t that incredible.
Although a few are reluctantly recommending the film.which stars Jim Carrey, Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi, critics from around the web have been slamming it from left to right.
Burt Wonderston follows the duel between old school Las Vegas magicians Burt Wonderstone (Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Buscemi) and their rival, new school street magician Steve Gray (Carrey). Things are complicated by the fact that Wonderstone and Marvelton , once the best of friends, now hate each other. Before you dig into what the critics are saying, watch the trailer here (if you haven’t done so already).
Washingtion Post top critic Ann Hornaday wrote, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” would be seen for what it is: a generic, fitfully funny mainstream comedy that doesn’t nearly get the best from its name-brand players but doesn’t qualify as a desecration, either.
New York Post Lou Lumenick called it ‘A veritable festival of bad toupees and repeated gags that just lie there, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” runs a bit more than an hour and a half but seems much longer – like it had been edited down at the last minute.’
Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail, kicked off his critic with a slap in the face right away. “For my first trick, allow me to write off an entire picture by merely affixing to the title a one-word contraction: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone isn’t. Please hold your applause.” Needless to say he doesn’t get any nice as he goes on.
Boston Globe’s Ty Burr’s assault on the film seemed a bit personal, “The hair is funny, in part, because not much else is. “Burt Wonderstone” is a lazy, underwritten imitation Will Ferrell movie.” Wow! That seems harsh, I wonder what his problem is?
I searched for a few critics who actually had some nice to say, but this is the closest I could come up with. Tom Long of The Detroit News was generous to say, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” isn’t incredible, but it’s a nicely performed bit of programmed Hollywood hilarity. Is it magic? No. But it’s funny.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone faired a little better with regular moviegoers, giving the film a B- Cinemascore.
Check your local listings to get showtimes for the film which is in theaters now.
