The Incredible Burt Wonderstone - DVD Review

Starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, James Gandolfini, Alan Arkin, Jay Mohr, Brad Garrett, Gillian Jacobs and Zachary Gordon.  Directed by Don Scardino.

★½

Seemed like a clever trick to cast Diary of a Wimpy Kid's Zachary Gordon as a bully right off the bat.

This is a talented cast that should have yielded funnier results. Every few years we get a Death to Smoochy disaster, and this was 2013's.

Steve Carell stars as Burt, a once-popular Vegas magician who refuses to alter his act with his partner Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi). He's become jaded, but worse he's a selfish, vain jerk. It seems like they're going for a Ron Burgundy style humor, but Burt is so unlikeable, we're rooting for his downfall.  It eventually comes, as his ego costs him his job, and a new magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) is rising in popularity near him. Gray is a Criss Angel-type mentalist, and he's the best part of the movie.

Meanwhile we watch actors like Buscemi, Wilde and Gandolfini go to waste. Director Don Scardino has a lot of experience with TV comedy (30 Rock, 2 Broke Girls), but it just doesn't translate to the big-screen.

Random Movie Stuff - 9/1/11

- Albert Finney has joined the cast of the latest James Bond movie. Sam Mendes (American Beauty) will direct, and it stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes.

- Steve Buscemi's in talks to join Jim Carrey and Steve Carell in Burt Wonderstone. Buscemi would play Anton, partner to magician Burt Wonderstone (Carell) who decides to quit. This spins Burt into a crisis, and he must also deal with a rival magician (Carrey) out to dethrone him.

- Octavia Spencer (The Help) has joined the cast of (formerly titled) Lamb of God. It's the directorial debut for screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno), starring Julianne Hough (Footloose) as a conservative religious woman who loses her faith after a plane crash. She decides to move to las Vegas and live a life of sin, but in so doing, regains her faith. Russell Brand (arthur) co-stars.

- Ryan Gosling will star in Lawless, the next film from director Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life). It'll reunite Golsing with his Notebook co-star Rachel McAdams, as well as Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem, Rooney Mara and Ben Affleck.