New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Jay Barney: Maybe the problem with this was the perception it was going to be a bit over the top? The cast certainly wasn't an issue here, with Carrey and Carell being huge names with a slew of other talent. Another problem here was no doubt poor word-of-mouth, as the critics are savaging this one. Audiences just have not embraced it, and it may be out of the top 10 within a week or two.

Felix Quinonez: I think to convince audiences to see something that looks this ridiculous you need a big box office draw. When movies are this silly, there is a risk of alienating audiences. Some people might feel like they aren't in on the joke. The comparison has been made on this site to Burt Wonderstone and Blades of Glory and while I do think that there are similarities between the two movies, Blades of Glory had Will Ferrell in the kind of role people love him in. Wonderstone has Jim Carrey, who is way past his peak, Steve Carrell, who is not the most reliable draw, and a bunch of famous people who are almost non-factors when it comes to the box office. I think having leads who are bigger draws right now may have helped in convincing people to look past the oddness of the movie.

But then again it does look pretty terrible and reviews are not good, so maybe making a better movie could have helped too.

Matthew Huntley: This is sort of a no-brainer to me since the trailer/ads didn't make The Incredible Burt Wonderstone look very funny. Example: there's a scene where Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi are trapped in a glass cage and one of them nearly falls out while pulling the other's pants down. Really? Have we reverted to that kind of humor again? The magic industry seems like one of the most satirize-able, but the filmmakers don't seem to have done their homework to make this one work, despite the talent.

Bruce Hall: I agree; despite the big names attached, this just looked like a half hearted collection of play it safe sight gags and basic cable dialogue. I also think that everyone loves Steve Carell, but not enough to consistently turn out for his movies. And those who say Jim Carrey is past his prime will not be dissuaded by what they see here. Some movies, you can just smell the stink on them months in advance. It seemed a fair bet early on that Burt Wonderstone was going to be one of them.

Edwin Davies: There were a number of problems facing the film going in to the weekend, chief of which was that everyone said it was mediocre at best and the ads failed to include any single moment that suggested that this wasn't the case. However, I think the problems run much deeper. Firstly, the premise is so very, very odd. If it came out a few years ago when "Celebrity magicians" were a thing, it might have attracted people as a comedy riffing on something in the popular consciousness, but when was the last time you thought of Siegfried and Roy in a non-mauling capacity, or of Criss Angel at all? Exactly. I don't think there was anyone interested in the subject matter to begin with, so why would anyone want to go out and pay to see it being mocked?

Secondly, the cast members aren't big enough draws to make up for the weakness of the premise. Steve Carell is a very popular guy who pretty much everyone likes, but without a strong premise (such as Date Night or Get Smart) he's not much of an attraction, which is why he's tended to do well in small-scale projects like Little Miss Sunshine and Dan in Real Life, where he can act without having to be weighed down by the premise. Jim Carrey, meanwhile, has tried to move away from these sort of films in recent years, instead appearing in kids films (Horton Hears a Who, Mr Popper's Penguins), thrillers (The Number 23, possibly the funniest film of his career) and the occasional critical darling (I Love You Phillip Morris), all of which have kept him working, but it's been ten years since he was a truly huge star in a wacky comedy. The audience that used to turn out for him in wacky comedies have moved on, and the people who have grown up in that time and would be the right age for Burt Wonderstone (mid-to-late teens) probably don't really know who he is as a comedy actor.

David Mumpower: Steve Carell had been Jim Carrey's good luck charm after their first two movies together. I think it's safe to say that the bloom is off that rose by now. I agree with the statements that the trailers are not funny, which reminds me of a movie that is wholly unrelated. When Hall Pass was announced as the next Farrelly Brothers comedy, we were optimistic about its chances. After the trailers aired, most of us decided they were not funny enough to sell a comedy. Carrey, like his Farrelly friends, is on the downward slope of his career. Audiences are so jaded about his film choices that the trailers need to distinguish themselves in order to entice consumers to watch. Note that this is the future Adam Sandler is facing right now. If the point of a comedy is to make people laugh but the commercials fail to do so, we should not be surprised when the movies disappoint. Also, between Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and this, Carell needs a hit or he will be in danger of suffering the same recent fate as Carrey and Sandler.

Kim Hollis: I love Steve Carell and will see him in almost everything, but when I first saw the title and concept of this movie, it felt like a joke. There was no way this movie could be real. And yet here it was, opening in more than 3,000 locations. I don't even think this one would have succeeded with bigger names. Maybe Ben Stiller/Owen Wilson like 10 years ago, but I guess that was technically Zoolander, just with male models rather than magicians.

Continued:       1       2       3