Directed by: Don Scardino
Starring: Steve Carrell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, James Gandolfini, Alan Arkin
Here's a comedy that contains some of the most inspired humor I've seen in many a moon. It's not afraid to be outrageous or bold, especially when it comes to Steve Gray (Carrey), a rival street magician to Vegas stalwarts Burt and Anton (Carrell and Buscemi). Gray isn't really even a magician. He performs stunts in the David Blaine/Criss Angel tradition which would put a lesser person in the hospital. Maybe he winds up there, but we never see it. I would think drilling a hole in your head would at least require an ER checkup or a stay in an institution.
The film follows the birth of a magician and his lifelong friendship with his future Vegas show partner. Burt Wonderstone (not his real name by the way) is a child picked on and left alone a lot at home who finds solace in a magic kit he received for his birthday- a birthday where he has to bake his own cake. He finds a kindred spirit in Anton Marvelton (not his real name by the way) who is a loyal sidekick. Flash forward 30 years later to present-day Las Vegas, where Burt and Anton perform a magic show in their own theater at Bally's, owned by Doug Munny (Gandolfini), whose eye is so focused on the bottom line he proudly says he doesn't know how old his young son is. Burt and Anton's act hasn't changed in 10 years. Tensions mount as Anton tries to persuade Burt to incorporate new illusions while Burt is focused on banging women from the audience.
Enter Steve Gray, who is the star of a cable show called "Brain Rapist" and performs stunts which even Criss Angel wouldn't dare try. In one episode, he doesn't pee for a week and the announcer joyously claims that Steve now has more urine than blood in his body. This is uproariously funny because it satirizes illusionists to a new level. I'm sure even David Blaine never thought of this stunt. But the arrogant Gray is becoming popular enough to cause Burt and Anton's audiences to dwindle. Munny is looking to open a new casino, called "Doug", and proudly divulges his wishes to charge higher prices for everything because "it's new and people like new". Anton quits the act after a failed hot box fiasco (Burt couldn't even last 10 minutes in it) and Munny pulls the plug on them. Burt is reduced to performing lame tricks at Big Lots and a nursing home, while Anton tries in vain to introduce magic to starving Cambodians. "It turns out they really only wanted food and water," Anton confesses later.
The second half of the movie focuses on Burt's attempts at a comeback and to dislodge Gray as a Vegas headliner. He enlists the help of a beautiful budding magician named Jane (Wilde), who Burt mistakingly calls Nicole, to help him with this. Also entering the picture is retired magician Rance Halloway (Arkin), who lives in the nursing home where Burt performs and whose magic kit inspired Burt to become a magician when he was a lonely kid. Sure, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is predictable and you know it will end happily for our hero, but the ride is hilarious.
Carrell makes a successful transformation from jaded, spoiled star to a humbled man on the comeback trail. Carrell is naturally likable, even when he's being a jerk, as is Buscemi, who is many miles removed from his gangster roles in Fargo and Boardwalk Empire. Jim Carrey has had the effect of fingernails dragging across a blackboard for me at times in his career, but he has never been funnier than he is here. He is a study in masochistic lunacy. His character does over-the-top things, but Carrey himself never goes over-the-top. When he appears on screen, we eagerly anticipate what insane thing he'll do next. Steve Gray exists in his own plane of reality, which allows him to push the envelope (or even tear it) with wackier and wackier stunts. I think he even levitates during a bar scene, which leads me to wonder if he isn't actually an alien.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone isn't deep or meaningful, but it's very, very funny. There was one scene which had me laughing uncontrollably. Someone pointed out to me that he hadn't seen me laugh like that at a movie in some time. Comedies these days usually contain bodily functions run amok and uninspired slapstick. Considering the dearth of good ones, he's probably right.
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