“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” So Credible, It’s a Cliche

“So Credible, It’s a Cliche”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone may appear to be fresh and original, but if you examine it closely, you will realize that you have already seen this movie many times before.

It has the same plot as many other movies before it, and all you have to do is change the profession, the setting, and whether you want to make it a drama or a comedy.

Here is the basic plot: Two lifelong friends are in business together, they have a falling out when an edgy newcomer arrives on their turf and starts taking business away from them, one of them seeks the advice of the person, now retired, who got them started in the business in the first place, there is a reconciliation in time for a final resolution, and the ending credits.

In this case, the profession is magic and magicians, the setting is modern-day Las Vegas, and the genre is a comedy.

Oh, and because the two magician partners are men, there is also a woman in the story, but in this case she doesn’t come between them, and their falling out isn’t because of her, but because of professional differences.

And let the record show that the quote of note in this movie is when the title character says about the newcomer, “He’s not a real magician, he doesn’t even have a costume.”

So, to fill in the remaining blanks, Steve Carell plays The Incredible Burt Wonderstone; Steve Buscemi plays the lifelong friend and partner Anton Marvelton; Jim Carrey plays the edgy newcomer Steve Gray; Olivia Wilde plays the love interest Jane, although there are many laughs caused by her being called Nicole; and Alan Arkin plays Rance Holloway, the retired magician who caused Burt and Anton to become magicians in the first place when they were kids.

Incidentally, Arkin seems to be the go-to guy in comedies these days, and he doesn’t let us down in this one.

Now, we will see all the standard magicians’ tricks during the course of the movie, but there is one at the end that you probably have not seen before, the disappearing audience trick.

Afterwards, we get to see how that trick is done, and it is more funny than amazing.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, however, is not only credible, but it’s so credible, it’s a cliche.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”