Con la morte non si scherza

Penn and Teller is a fictional film about how inviting killers to your head on national TV can lead to potential problems, even if you are Penn and Teller.

This film embodies almost everything that is Penn and Teller, because that is what a Penn and Teller film should represent: Penn and Teller. Let's get the bad out of the way first: The acting in the film is decent and comical, but not superb - especially the actors that play the side roles. Of course considering Penn and Teller are magicians whose job is to act in a way that conceals their tricks, their acting is not bad, although it feels like something is missing, especially in the more "emotional" parts of the film.

Also, there's a slight issue with the writing. The film is sort of a mix between comedy and thriller, but the twists are generally somewhat predictable, and a lot of the humor does not cause explosive laughter. Again, the writing is just a wee bit weak, but in my opinion not the main point of the film.

What the point of the film is though is lots of Penn and Teller: The viewer gets to see plenty of magic tricks and how they are done, Penn and Teller make commentary on various forms of superstition, and deliver what is in my opinion the silliest, somewhat apologetic yet quite possibly best ending a film could ever have.

Overall, I would recommend Penn and Teller Get Killed, even if I were on national TV.

The idea is promising: is someone actually trying to kill Penn (following his peculiar request), or is it all a big hoax? But the result is a mess. The script that Penn and Teller wrote is unstructured and complex, and it doesn't seem to have a discernible beginning, middle or end. There is a funny and creative scene in an airport, early on, and then the film goes downhill. The VERY last monologue we hear, however, is kind of clever... (**)

The first time I watched this movie, I was disappointed. The laughs, it seemed, had been few and far between. After watching it again, however, some of the more subtle jokes caught my attention (in a word, Teller's facial expressions), and I found myself watching it yet a third time, and actually enjoying it. In other words, it "grew" on me.

Penn and Teller Get Killed isn't what you'd call a triumph of skilled film-making. The primary function of the movie is to allow Penn and Teller to perform their routines and display their trademark style -- a style that has as much to do with their attitudes as it does their 'magic.' If you like them, you'll like the movie; if not, you probably won't.

That said, the plot is interesting enough, and the film is not JUST a vehicle. The film itself really does reflect their twisted sensibility, and that may be its strongest point -- it's not just "Penn and Teller do some magic with a plot pasted on." It's really what you'd expect if someone allowed these two to make a movie. (The ending, in particular, is one of the strangest I've ever seen.) The film is perfectly Penn and Teller: it gets inside your head, twists things around, breaks some stuff, and leaves with a smile as you try and figure out what to do with the mess.

Being a big Penn and Teller fan, and after hearing about this movie I was looking forwards to seeing it, and was gratified when, on a lonely Friday night, I saw it was showing on TV.

It started a little slowly, but I persevered, watching on. Yes it's a mildly amusing film. Certainly it gives us an insight into the world of the magicians, but when it comes down to it, it's simply a series of magic tricks strung together by a very thin plot. The tricks themselves are quite impressive, but in no way are they comparable to the magnificence of the duos live shows. It just doesn't compete. Worth watching but don't look forwards to anything special.