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A Pair Of Reviews For Mitchell & Webb’s New Film, MAGICIANS!!
Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
I didn’t even realize these guys were making a movie. I haven’t had a chance to see their new series together, but I really love PEEP SHOW, the series they star in, and I’m up for whatever they’re doing next.
After THE PRESTIGE and THE ILLUSIONIST, will MAGICIANS turn out to be a gem as well? Let’s see what our first spy thinks:
Hey Harry
The name is Johnny Haffatta and I recently got given screener tickets to the movie 'Magicians' starring David Mitchell, Robert Webb and Jessica Stevenson. This was my first screener so I was relatively excited. When me and my friends got there we were greeted with the usual "not all the special effects are complete, the music isn't correct and it is being projected from HD Video" though I did not notice any of this. This movie was is a British production starring some of Britains most funny comedians (the stars of 'Peep Show' and 'Spaced'). Anyway the movie was very good, it was like a comedic version of 'The Prestige', and on release the two movies will be compared. It started of with the two main characters Harry (David Mitchell) and Karl (Robert Webb) performing a magic act with Harry's wife as the beautiful assistant. After the act Harry discovers that his wife is cheating on him with Karl, they then all have to do a magic act together where in a very funny scene Harry accidentaly decapitates his own wife (can anybody say 'The Prestige'?). Four years later and the magicians have grown apart and have lost their fame but they decide to enter a magic contest against eachother for one last shot at glory. It is a very funny movie with great characters and many funny themes (including a delightful sub plot on how psychics are not magicians and they bring the whole proffesion down). Seeing as it was a screener there were some bad bits, a horrible father/son plot line and an idiotic penis gag, but all the rest was fun I highly
recomend.
Johnathan Q Haffatta
Okay. Sounds like the film’s still a little rough, but with that cast, I’m intrigued. What did our next spy think?
Well, let’s just say he’s not as impressed:
Hi Harry,
Greetings from London. Hope you're well, big fella. Got the chance to see a test screening tonight - MAGICIANS, the first big screen outing for TV comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb (Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look). Before the movie started, we were told we were watching a work in progress, no titles, temp music, etc.
The Story
Mitchell and Webb play magicians who fall out when Webb sleeps with Mitchell's wife during a break in their stage act. At the finale of the show, Mitchell lops his wife's head off during the guillotine trick. Four years later, having gone their separate ways, they're both leading miserable unsuccessful lives. Mitchell gets friendly with Jessica Stephenson (from Spaced) whilst Webb has only found friendship with his agent, Otto (Darren Boyd). When the two former magicians hear about a Magic competition, they make up, break up, then end up competing against each other for the prize...and a shot at regaining their former glory!
The Review
Given the recent run of Magic films (The Prestige, The Illusionist), you'd think Magicians would be an easy target for comedy...so it's amazing (and disappointing) how the makers of Magicians managed to miss the target by so much. The rest of the audience seemed to laugh more than me, but not much more. Lots of stony faces and embarrassed muttering when we all shuffled out of the cinema.
The film's main problems? Most importantly, it wasn't funny enough - bad news for a comedy. Most of the jokes fell flat. There were more laughs in United 93. The characters weren't interesting or funny and they weren't placed in original or clever situations. Secondly, the movie looked cheap. What was the budget? Did it jingle? It looked cheaper than most things you'd see on TV.
Most of the movie takes place in a hotel and the rest of the "sets" literally look like they were filmed in a the back room of an office. 99% of the movie takes place indoors and, for some reason, the filmmakers decided to shoot the film in scope - they have nothing to fill the frame with! Magicians was directed by a guy called Andrew O'Connor, who used to be a game show host in the 80's. He now runs a successful TV production company but he's never directed before. And it shows.
The screenplay was written by the guys behind Mitchell and Webb's brilliant Peep Show, but their first feature script is, well, shite. It has so many problems. For instance, at the start of the film, the Magicians aren't even that famous so when they lose everything...they haven't actually lost that much. If they were, it would give them a reason to want to be back on top. Any attempt at basic character development feels awkward and forced. The competition the Magicians enter isn't exciting or grand or funny - it's old-fashioned and flat. Again, probably not helped by its cheapo production values. And considering this is a British movie, it's peppered with odd Americanisms. Characters say stuff like "Pussy", "Dickwad" and "I've got wood". Didn't feel right.
So, how are Mitchell and Webb? They're okay, but look a bit awkward. You want to like them, but their characters are dull and predictable. It's a far cry from any of their TV work. Judging by this film, they're not ready for the big screen yet. Jessica Stephenson was as likeable as ever, but was stuck playing a dumb character. Peter Capaldi's competition organiser got a few laughs but Darren Boyd, who plays Webb's agent, Otto, was terrible. I couldn't work out what I found more annoying - the character or the performance. Whenever he was on screen, I just wanted to smash his face in.
Anyway, wish I had more positive things to say. Really disappointed. Not sure how they're going to solve all of the film's Kong-size problems. If it was up to me, I'd rewrite and reshoot the whole damn thing and start all over again.
Please feel to edit my rant and call me The Movie Goblin!
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that's one amazing guy. coffins, water, gyroscopes? what magic! not to mention the TV tricks he uses on his "specials". what's next, he let's someone kick him in the balls 200 times? count me in. it can't be any worse than this movie sounds like it's gonna be.
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This is getting to be like that year they released Dante's Peak and Volcano in the same month or when A Bugs Life and Antz came out or ...YOU FUCKERS HAVE OUR PERMISSION TO MAKE DIFFERENT MOVIES. Yes yes they're all unique little snowflakes...all about magicians...howabout a movie where the magician fights a zombie cyborg or the magician is shrunk and has to find his way out of a cats' ass or maybe the magician is falling in love with the servant girl only to find she's really a sea bass magically cursed to live life as a beautiful woman (the irony being as a sea bass she thinks she's hideous) SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Fuck it I'm going home and I'm taking my balls with me. C'mon balls.....
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make me laugh but their humour is an acquired taste. I'm hoping they can improve on this rough cut. After 15 years of British movies predominantly about cockney gangsters and the love lives of toffy London publicists, etc, it's great to see our alternative comedians being given the chance to make films (TLOG, the Spaced chaps, and now M&W). Let's just hope they do themselves justice.
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Eh? Eh? [nudge] Sure, I'm mixing metaphors, but the joke is totally worth it...
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That's not about 'cock-er-ney' gansters and love lives of toffy london publicists!! I see your point though and I'm glad Pegg & co have lead the way for alternate british comedies. It's good to see that Mitchell & Webb are following suit!
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"Peep Show" was great, and despite the laugh track, their new sketch comedy series was generally pretty funny. Sucks to hear that their new movie is apparently pretty terrible.
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...any one of those concepts brought to life on the screen. Mainly the cat's ass one.
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Peepshow is the best british comedy in years.
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Numberwang! the game show with numbers "Five", "Seventeen", "Fourty One point seven" "Thats Numberwang!". And the adventures of Sir Dudley Chicken Caesar was another classic. I will watch this for sure. Turned out to be funnier than the new series of Extras that preceeded it.
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Yes, I understand the point you're making, but did you have to do it with the sensitivity of a nazi?
What a completely unintelligent comment for you to make. At least no-one reading this will be under any illusions (pun) that the review was written by a complete fuckwit. -
I saw The Final Cut on projected video at an AMC in SoCal and I complained to the management afterwards. The projector was complete crap. The image was dim and I could see the scan lines. Now I'm all for improving technology (IMHO, Phantom Menace was great in DLP) but theatre owners have to be willing to spend big bucks on the best equipment or people will stay home.
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Ouch. That's one for the poster. I was looking forward to this one. Bollocks.
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I suggest you ask for a sense of humour for Christmas.
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That doesn't read nearly as well as it seems to translate to screen. This doesn't seem like it can be nearly as funny as any of Gob Bluth's stage shows. "Silence, slave!"
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their bbc 2 show was shite, so seems fair enough that this wont be much better it fucking riles me that the public didnt go for peep show but loved the generic sketches of their bbc 2 series, numberwang, numberfuckingwank mate it felt like it was like the fast show so fucking dated and below par. cunts.
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OK, Peep Show is good for like a few episodes, but it's nothing classic. The sketch show was all right in places, but felt dated, and they're not strong enough actors or comedians to make an impression in either area.
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lighten up, how long do we have to go before jokes are OK? you yourself just made a Nazi reference as a joke...so that means we gotta wait 60 years? don't be a hypocrite and a doofus in the same post, please.
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Its worth mentioning that Andrew has done far more than you give him credit.
Firstly, his background is as a magician. Andrew was awarded the magic circle young magician of the year some time ago .
He's the force behind the Derren Brown Series, hosted television game shows, and is the executive producer on a growing number of light entertainment shows like monkey magic, dirty tricks, the tricks from the bible, peep show, that mitchel and web look,the real hustle, the indestructables...Ect.
Andrew has also acted on stage,taking the lead in shows, like Barnum.
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It's almost an unwritten rule that any TV comedians first attempt at the big screen outing will be crap. What they usually produce is a TV script that they then try and film it and it doesn't work. The good ones though will watch what they have made, learn their mistakes and make a better stab at a second film.
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Are you a chav?
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