Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Blistering performances.

The Brits can deliver regarding comedy at the cinema, no, no, i don't mean "Carry On... ". But i mean films like "The Full Monty". "Magicians" deliver completely. Despite some rude and bad language, highly forgivable, the whole thing is charming, cute, without any pretension and funny. Typical from the brits regarding the subject. I enjoyed it completely, and recommend it. If you like " The Full Monty", you will like this one. The actors, quite unknowed, do their part well. And there is not "space", no moment of waiting. It just delivers from A to finish. You won't laugh every seconds, but the over whole of the movie is funny. While I have been very disappointed with brits-com like "Love actually", one of the worst movie i have even seen in my life, the little budget "Magicians" manages far better. A nice surprise, wonderful. Thank you !

From the makers of Peep Show, and director Andrew O'Connor (who did magic as a kid, and has been executive producer of pretty much all Derren Brown shows) this isn't too bad. Basically Harry (David Mitchell) and Karl (Robert Webb) used to be two of the most successful magicians on stage, but it was after Harry discovered Karl and his wife (the act's assistant) having an affair, and then accidentally cutting off her head in a guillotine trick they fell apart. 4 years later, they have split and do not speak to each other, Harry is trying to get a job (possibly that could involve his magic skills), and Karl has reinvented himself as a Derren Brown type act, using thought suggestion and medium. When Harry sees an advert for a international magic contest with a cash prize of £20,000, he originally planned for Karl to help him with an audition, but they are obvious not to get on, and request to both be solo acts. Harry has found a new assistant in the ambitious Linda (Spaced star Jessica Hynes/Stevenson), and Karl has attracted a new naive, almost thick and easy-to-fool Danni (Andrea Riseborough). Both acts progress to the finals, but Harry still has his doubts of bringing back his guillotine act (and he still thinks of what happened last time), soon, Linda will feel the same, and Karl is struggling to keep convincing people he can do his thing. In the end, Karl loses his patience and storms of stage, but after Linda walks out, Karl helps Harry win the contest, and they get their fame back. Also starring Darren Boyd as Otto, Karl's agent, Steve Edge as Tony White, a fellow contestant, with his son Dwight (Rasmus Hardiker), Peter Capaldi as Mike Francis, the leading judge, Alexander Kirk as Dietmar and Tim Plester as Malky. The magic tricks are interesting and impressive, there are even some real magicians in the background, there are some good small giggles, but I can see why the critics give it two stars out of five. Okay!

Well, I haven't seen Peep Show and I don't know how great Mitchell and Webb are in that production, but evaluating on the basis what I saw on Magicians - I have only one message to those guys: "Don't quit your day job!" Script wasn't good - jokes were boring and dumb, characters stereotypical and obnoxious. Whole idea behind the script was immature and incomplete. I had two or three laughs when watching this movie - and I'm grateful for those, but everything else was just clumsy and predictable.David Mitchell's character(Harry) was just silly and irritating. If I would ever meet that kind of rambling fool I would beat him up just to shut him up. :) Karl (Robert Webb) was a little bit more likable character - but still quite boring.There are two kinds of people - those who like British comedies and those who don't. If you belong to the first category then you MIGHT get something out of this film... but I doubt that.

I'm not joking. This is not a throwaway 1 out of 10. It's midnight, I'm tired and want to sleep but I have to write this before I forget tonight's cinematic shocker. This is hands down the worst film I have ever seen, and I have seen The Avengers and Not Now Comrade, so that's really saying something. I had to leave this film half way through, such was its appalling suckiness, and come to think of it I managed to stay all the way through Ghost Rider so don't think I don't have willpower. This film just truly blew.First of all, to the other reviewers who rated this god-awful tripe anything more than 1 out of 10 (apart from the 10/10 scorer who is obviously with the film's marketing team) - have you actually ever seen a funny film? Saying "suck my wand" on its own isn't good enough. Go and rent out This Is Spinal Tap, Ghostbusters or Planes, Trains and Automobiles - that, my friends, is how to make a funny film.So what is wrong with it. First of all, why magicians? Everyone hates magicians. Magicians think they are smarter than you. Oh look, you fooled me with your MAGIC TRICK. Always remember that magicians are terribly lonely OCD cases who will obsessively learn how to flick a card up their sleeve for days at a time. They are worse than mime artists, at the bottom of the entertainment barrel. So why do I want to watch a film about them? Answer: I don't. Unless it's The Prestige. Shhh, move on...Secondly, how did the writers (who have previously done such quality work as Peep Show, The Thick Of It and Smack The Pony) not notice that they had forgot to put any jokes in it? This "comedy" is resolutely chuckle-free until at least an hour in - when my girlfriend and I gave up and watched Spiderman 3 instead, which at least justified its ticket price with some impressive special effects. Which brings me to: 3. Mitchell and Webb. Apparently the only super power they have these days is the power to stomp all over their incredible comedic potential by doing every job they're offered. They're everybloodywhere! I used to listen to them on Radio 4 and they did some of the most genuinely hilarious sketches I have ever heard. But since they took the Apple shilling I just can't get away from them. They seem to have the whole voice-over industry to themselves now! Death from overexposure. But just putting them into something does not *magically* make it funny.Finally, what really takes the biscuit is that this film was part financed by the National Lottery. Which means that some good cause somewhere has had to go without funding so that Mitchell and Webb can not be funny in this crappy film.And that really sucks.