The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
2 out of 5 Stars
Director • Don Scardino
Starring • Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde
Rated • PG-13
Recommended to • Those willing to sit through 85 minutes of garbage for 15 minutes of hilarity.

Burt (Steve Carell) and Anton (Steve Buscemi) have been Las Vegas’s most popular magicians for a decade but their friendship and careers have reached an impasse. Is it too late to salvage all they once shared or is it time to step aside for newcomers like shock artist Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) to take the stage?

When you include words like “incredible” in your title you’re already setting yourself up for some clever headlines, particularly if your film doesn’t live up to its billing. “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” is a ponderous film with flashes of genius. It stars out well before disintegrating into a disjointed string of gags and romantic subplots that fail to cover up the fact that the film isn’t all that funny, smart or incredible. It’s not even average. The film’s greatest sin being that it is about magicians that aren’t very magical. Alan Arkin is quite good as Rance Holloway, Burt and Anton’s childhood hero, but he’s given too little to do. Olivia Wilde provides the sex appeal and one brilliant scene as Jane, a would-be-female magician trapped in a male dominated industry. Carrey’s take on Criss Angel was more convincing and funny when David Tennant parodied him in 2011’s “Fright Night.” Carrell and Buscemi? They seem to be simply going through the motions.

-Ryan Michael Painter