Die Magier

Hmmm...I saw the screening last week in Dublin, and although it was quite funny, it wasn't "brilliant". I had lots of fun, but there was just something missing I think. Mitchell and Webb were great (as ever), Jessica Stevenson, Darren Boyd and Peter Capaldi were also great (as ever)...but there was just something about it. Too slight? Not enough meat? No Mark Heap? I dunno. All this talent and - it pains me to say this - it didn't seem to be much more than the sum of its parts. Maybe further viewings will reveal more. Now having said that, there were plenty of great jokes, nuances, the odd subversion, and so forth - not to mention magic tricks. Despite my minor reservations, it's still a cut above the rest of the tripe that passes for comedy these days. Armstrong and Bain have made the leap to film confidently and convincingly. They still deliver the goods. Go see it! Incidentally, Jessica Stevenson just gets more gorgeous as time goes on (sigh).

(Notice I didn't mention Peep Show! Surely I deserve some kind of award!)

Oh, and there was a Q&A session with David and Rob after the screening and they were hilarious. Sharp as tacks, took time to answer even the stupidest questions, and hung around long enough for fans to mob them (well, ask for autographs and photos anyway). Great guys.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

David Mitchell and Robert Webb, who became cult favourites with the TV classic Peep Show, failed to re-capture that magic with this hugely disappointing big screen outing. Taking aim at the world of stage act magicians, this has them as one time best friends in the same profession, who fall out when the one has an affair with the other's wife and subsequently he accidentally kills her. Years later, they find themselves rivals in a magic competition and it's all set for fireworks.

The same formula Mitchell & Webb worked in Peep Show (and even That Mitchell and Webb Look) is here, Mitchell as the hesitant, well spoken guy who suddenly explodes in fits of rage and Webb as the more outspoken, confident guy with a ruthless, selfish edge to him. It all plays basically like Peep Show The Movie but somewhere towards the beginning you lose interest, the laughs fail to flow and you find it a huge slog to the end. Definitely without the 'magic' touch. **

There has been a sudden stream of movies revolving around magic, of course there's the obvious fantasy stuff with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, but what I am really on about is movie revolving around stage magicians. Last October we had the simply amazing Prestige, a dark movie that had one of the best twists I have ever seen in a movie. Next came The Illusionist, an inferior movie to The Prestige, but a movie once again extremely good. So now we have Magicians. Although most notably there is a huge difference between Magicians and The Prestige and Illusionist. You see Magicians is a comedy, its not a period piece like the last two, and this movie in all honesty couldn't give a toss about magic. Magicians is the first movie outing for Mitchell and Webb, stars of cult TV Show Peep Show. I personally have never seen Peep Show, but from what I've seen of the pair on chat shows I can tell that they are very funny people, and thankfully aren't as one note comedically like the Little Britain duo are. The trouble with comedians going into movies is the fact the movies usually fail miserably. This was proved specifically with last years dire Alien Autopsy starring Ant and Dec. I was looking forward to Magicians, but was also aware it was probably not going to be that good. However, what a nice surprise it is to say that Magicians is a very funny movie. Its hit and miss as times, and I am still not one hundred percent certain that the storyline should have been stretched out into a feature length movie, but the movie itself is very funny. Yet it has one ultimate flaw, its not in the least bit memorable. Already, just a few hours after seeing it I'm starting to forget a lot of it. By this time next week I might have forgotten it completely!

The lead duo of the movie, David Mitchell and Robert Webb are what make this movie great. The pair are extremely talented comedians, and any scene they share together in the movie is a true blessing as they have some hilarious sequences with each other. Unlike Ant and Dec they also seem to work very well on the big screen as well as the small screen. The pair might just be able to make a big break in the movie business, this would be brilliant as the pair are very talented, and with a few more movies in their bag they might just become comedy icons. The supporting cast also very much surprised me, as its the supporting cast who threaten to steal the entire movie from the two leads. Jessica Stevenson is a joy to watch as the dippy assistant, and she gets some of the best scenes in the movie. My personal favourite is a dance scene that is actually funny to watch (yes Spiderman take note, we want dance sequence in comedies, not superhero movie!). Peter Capaldi runs over the hills with the movie as the compère of the magic show, a role that was so brilliantly written. Darren Boyd also has a great role as Webb's agent.

The comedy rate of the movie is pretty high, yet there is still a lot of misses dotted about the movie. The trailer for this movie had me slightly worried since it seemed a bit more child friendly than I imagined, with the notable exception of the "suck my wand" line. Thankfuly the movie is as crude as I wanted it to be. But the movies comedy really sparks when Mitchell and Webb are on screen together. Unfortunately this happens all too infrequently and is one of the major reasons this has got a lower rating than it would have done. The pair have such great sequences together, that when they're taken apart it seems like the movie is desperately filling in a large gap with other characters. Sometimes these characters manage to distract the audience, but it is noticeable at times, and some of the jokes fail quite miserably to hit the right note. Matters cannot be helped when it is unavoidable that the movie isn't memorable. I had a good time while watching the movie, but by the end I became aware that I couldn't remember a lot of it. The comedy never reaches great heights, its a movie full of small laughs and the occasional bigger laugh. But there's nothing here that will really have you rolling in the aisles. In this respect this movie never really suits the talents of Mitchell and Webb as its always noticeable that the actors are funnier than the movie they're in.

Magicians in the long run is a good, solid piece of fun. It features brilliant performances and will hopefully propel Mitchell and Webb's career to greater heights. But its not the best movie for the pair, and its essentially an elongated sketch for a movie. But it'll give you a laugh.

Mitchell & Webb have done some very funny material in the past. This film is, at best, mildly amusing.

The premise is amusing, in a black comedy way.

The characters are amusing, occasionally.

The script is amusing, in places.

Individually all of the contributors are capable of so much more and it is disappointing to end up with a film that aspires to be funny but falls short in so many ways. It simply fails to sustain any interest. Much of the humour is hackneyed and its predictability takes away so much of the punch that you find yourself hunting for humour that ultimately is not there to find.

Overall the best I can bring myself to recommend is if this comes round on TV and you have little else to do on a rainy day give it a try.

Karl and Harry are magician partners, regularly wooing their audiences with their brand of mystery and wonder. However two events tear them apart. The first is Harry's discovery that Karl is having an affair with his wife. The second is Harry accidentally beheading that same wife during a mishap with a guillotine. Many years go by and Karl is still working as a magician but is trying to break into the TV niche held by David Blaine, Derrel Brown and others of that ilk. Meanwhile Harry is selling knives in the supermarket to earn his living. With the Magic Shield coming up, Harry turns to Karl to reunite temporarily and win the contest. However barely minutes into it, old tensions resurface and the pair split again to go head-to-head.

It is a little concerning to watch the progress of the career or Mitchell and Webb. I first came across them in the quite brilliant Peep Show, where their delivery was excellent against the strong material. Next I saw their sketch show and, although it was a bit hit and miss, it was still reasonably amusing. Afterwards comes this film which again is a step down even if the move into films appears to be a positive step. The concept appears to offer up potential but somehow the script doesn't really give them the material to work with. For some reason the script keeps them apart too often and gives them romantic subplots (of a sort) to deal with. The film is at its best when they are together, clashing with one another in the awkward and uneasy way they do. However it must be said that these moments are not frequent enough and mostly the film is just not that funny.

The rather British "awkward" humour is OK but not as well done as those used to it will have seen it done other places. Mitchell and Webb are both pretty good when the material is given to them but again, this is not often enough for what they have shown they are able to do. The support cast is full of familiar faces from Spaced, Saxondale, The Thick of It and several other strong British comedies. However nobody really have the chance to shine apart from the wonderfully letchy Edge. Stevenson (now Hynes), Hardiker, Riseborough, Capaldi and others are all OK, but it is the lack of material offered them that limits them.

Overall then an OK comedy but nothing more than that. Viewers get glimpses of what the film could have been or what the cast are capable of and, while these glimpses are occasionally funny they do not make up for the fact that they are only glimpses. Credit to Mitchell and Webb for trying to show that they are much more than just Peep Show actors, but Magicians is not the vehicle that will do that for them.