The film opens with
a scene of young Burt (played by Mason Cook) on his birthday.
His mother left him a box of cake mix with instructions and a
gift covered in wrapping paper. Burt baked himself a chocolate
cake in the oven and then he opened his present. It was an original
magic set by Rance Holloway, a famous Las Vegas magician. Then,
Burt's friend, young Anton (played by Luke Vanek) came over to
hang out. He also became very interested in the magic set and
suggested that he and Burt team up.
Fast forward to the
present day and Burt and Anton are headlining shows at Bally's
Casino on the Las Vegas strip. Steve Carell played the role of
Burt Wonderstone while Steve Buscemi starred as Anton Marvelton.
Every night they sold out shows for their magic show, which was
simply known as "Burt and Anton's Show." However, every
show was identical to the next. Ticket sales started drying up
until Bally's Casino Owner Doug Munny (played by James Gandolfini)
ended up canceling their show.
Wonderstone decided
to split up with Marvleton and go on his own. He performed inside
a Big Lots store, at an assisted living home, a children's birthday
party and many other small gigs. Then, he met up with Holloway
(played by Alan Arkin) to try and turn things around. The famous
magician told Wonderstone that his tricks were boring and needed
to be more interesting.
Enter Jim Carrey as
Steve Gray, a competing performer or magician--if you even want
to call it that. He is known for performing edge-of-your-seat,
dangerous stunts. Gray did many gross acts such as a card trick
in which he has a participant write their name on a card then
it disappears. To make it reappear, he has to cut the side of
his cheek to get it out. In another trick, Gray uses a cordless
drill to make a hole through the side of his head. In another
stunt, he walked on red, hot charcoals and spent the night laying
on them. Caution: Don't try those at home.
Wonderstone and Marvelton
came up with an idea to spice things up and draw attention for
their magic show. They decided to remain inside a glass cage for
one week. It was suspended from a crane high above the Las Vegas
strip. Hundreds of people showed up to watch this stunt including
the local TV news outlets. The record-breaking trick started out
perfectly, until about 20 minutes later. Wonderstone couldn't
handle it anymore and broke one of the glass sheets, which left
them hanging on for dear life. They finally came down and ended
up with many broken bones.
Later in the movie,
Munny announced that he will be opening a new casino simply called
Doug's. He started a contest to determine who would get the title
show at that new venue. Burt and Anton reunited to compete against
Gray. The competition was held during a birthday party for one
of Munny's kids. The three magicians kept trying to outdo each
other one after another.
The question you'll
be able to answer after seeing this movie is...Who will get to
be the lead act at Doug's Casino? I'm not going to tell you that.
You'll have to go see the film to find out. Secondly, will Burt
and Anton ever turn things around to get people back in the seats?
I really enjoyed this
movie for several reasons. It had a very good cast including one
of my all-time favorites, Jim Carrey. Other stars in "The
Incredible Burt Wonderstone" include Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin,
Jay Mohr, Brad Garrett and a cameo by David Copperfield. Secondly,
it was cool to see the Las Vegas strip in a movie. It brought
back memories of the first "Hangover" movie. Some critics
have said there wasn't enough "magic" in this movie
so for that reason I'll give it an "A-." However, it
is still worth your time to see this great film on a big screen.
Look for "The
Incredible Burt Wonderstone" in theaters nationwide beginning
on Friday, March 15.
