You won't be disappointed!

Truly Dreadful Film

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Usually, it might seem out of place to make 1950s LA the setting for something involving magical realism, but they pull it off here, with Bridget Fonda as an amateur magician going to Mexico to further her studies with a Mayan shaman. While the story mostly focuses on her trip down there, and how a detective (Russell Crowe) follows her, my favorite parts were the scenes with the Mexican guy, and what he does towards the end. When people in Latin America first started telling stories centering on magical realism, they probably never envisioned that! Anyway, "Rough Magic" isn't a great movie, but a good look at a part of Latin American culture that many people in the US unfortunately don't know about. Worth seeing.PS: This movie will probably give you a new view of rabbits.

"Rough Magic" is a little undiscovered gem. I came across it going through Russell Crowe's output and fell in love with it immediately. It was lighthearted, magical, elegant, whimsical, humorous, gently satirical, self mocking, yet meaningful all at once. But most of all it seemed to speak of something important in such an elusive way as to be completely incomprehensible. This is a hallmark of all mystical teachings; they seem to relate most mundane stories yet they keep calling you back for another look. It happens because the nagging feeling that you are missing something essential and of great importance doesn't leave you alone.Over the years I have watched "Rough Magic" enough times for it to loose its freshness, but that has not happened somehow. Each time i see it i am delighted anew by the vivid locale, its true to the period costumes and sets, its music that is just right at every turn, its good looking international cast that carries the movie's invisible agenda perfectly.

"Rough Magic" is a funny, sophisticated piece of fluff about losing and finding one's heart. Russell Crowe looks young and sweet. The Mexican Spanish spoken is entertaining, and Peploe's use of Mayan Indians and a kind of eclectic shamanism mixed with magic rings emotionally true. I loved this film and you will, too, if you are not too hung up on logic.

Russell Crowe is the only good thing about this movie. Of course, any movie with him in it is watchable. This movie was saved from the terrible performances of the other actors (including Bridget Fonda who is generally a very good actress) by the mere presence of Crowe, who, as always, was fantastic. Can we give him an Oscar for every movie he's been in, please? Pretty please?