The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)

When a street magician's stunts begins to make their show look stale, superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton look to salvage on their act - and their friendship - by staging their own daring stunt.

Director:

Don Scardino

Writers:

Jonathan M. Goldstein (screenplay), John Francis Daley (screenplay),

Stars:

Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Mason Cook

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Carell	...	Burt Wonderstone
Steve Buscemi	...	Anton Marvelton
Olivia Wilde	...	Jane
Jim Carrey	...	Steve Gray
James Gandolfini	...	Doug Munny
Alan Arkin	...	Rance Holloway
Jay Mohr	...	Rick the Implausible
Michael Herbig	...	Lucius Belvedere (as Michael Bully Herbig)
Mason Cook	...	Young Burt
Luke Vanek	...	Young Anton
Zachary Gordon	...	Bully
Richard Wolffe	...	Himself
Erin Burnett	...	Herself
Brad Garrett	...	Dom
David Copperfield	...	Himself

Storyline

Superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) have ruled the Las Vegas Strip for years, raking in millions with illusions as big as Burt's growing ego. But lately the duo's greatest deception is their public friendship, while secretly they've grown to loathe each other. Facing cutthroat competition from guerrilla street magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), whose cult following surges with each outrageous stunt, even their show is starting to look stale. But there's still a chance Burt and Anton can save the act - both onstage and off - if only Burt can get back in touch with what made him love magic in the first place.

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Plot Keywords:

magician | vegas | neglectful father | desensitization | las vegas nevada | 

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Taglines:

Abracatastic!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, dangerous stunts, a drug-related incident and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 March 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Burt Dickenson

Filming Locations:

The Prince - 3198 W. Seventh Street, Koreatown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$10,177,257 (USA) (15 March 2013)

Gross:

$22,525,921 (USA) (3 May 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, BenderSpink, Carousel Productions (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Riki Lindhome auditioned for the role of Jane.

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Goofs

When Steve Gray drills the wooden plank - in a closer view, he drills it near the top. In the next shot, he removes the drill from the center.

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Quotes

Burt Wonderstone: Are you a lesbian?
Jane: Is every woman who doesn't sleep with you a lesbian?
Burt Wonderstone: Oh, no, I have slept with plenty of lesbians.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.102 (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Broken Dreams"
Written and Performed by Giuliano Baglioni
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

User Reviews

This movie doesn't completely blow.

'THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE': Three Stars (Out of Five)

A movie with a cast like this (Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Steve Buscemi, Alan Arkin, Olivia Wilde and James Gandolfini) can't be all bad and I'm a little puzzled at how poorly it's done at the box office. I think it's just the premise; no one is eager to see a movie about competitive stage magicians and I wasn't either (that's why I wasn't entirely sold by the previews despite the cast as well). The reviews for the film have been mediocre to negative too so I did go into it with somewhat low expectations. In my opinion that's the best way to see any movie because if it doesn't completely blow you're happy. This movie doesn't completely blow. It's funny and the cast all gives decent to good performances. It's not one of the most well written or best directed comedies in recent years but it's decent. Carell, Carrey and the rest of the cast have all done much better work but this isn't too big of a blemish for any of their resumes.

The film stars Carell and Buscemi as popular magicians, Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton, who've had a sold-out stage act on the Las Vegas Strip for years. They met as children and learned magic together but in recent years they've grown apart. As Burt's ego has only gotten bigger and bigger he's learned to take Anton for granted and is only interested in getting laid. Their act has grown old and unoriginal as a result of their lack of motivation and passion. They've also now been threatened by a new street magician (Carrey) who's grown in popularity as theirs has diminished. An old idol (Arkin) and their mistreated assistant (Wilde) do what they can to help bring back the duo's magic and friendship.

The film was directed by Don Scardino (a veteran TV director) and written by Jonathan M. Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Chad Kultgen and Tyler Mitchell. With all those writers you'd think they could have came up with a better script but usually the more writers there are the poorer the writing tends to be in Hollywood. Scardino isn't the most experienced director to deliver the power to the punch lines these jokes need either. Still the movie isn't amateurish and like I said the acting is all good. Carell is always a great leading man, Buscemi is good in any role he's put in and it's nice to see Carrey trying a supporting turn as the movie's dislikeable villain. He's in great shape for the role and gives it his all (and I think he's probably paying Carell back for all the supporting turns he did in Carey's movies earlier in his career). The movie is definitely not bad, it's funny, and while the laugh out loud jokes might be a little few and far between the film is still always mildly amusing in the least.

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