The Incredible Burt Wonderstone 2013

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: This may be the kind of semi-bad, semi-inspired comedy that could not only stand repeated viewings but perhaps improve with them. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: It's a long, limping slog from the halfway point to the finish line, even if the actors have built up enough goodwill by then that it's bearable to coast the movie out. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ... has its share of engaging-to-great bits, including, truth to tell, one gag performed by Carrey that made me laugh louder and longer ... but it falls kind of flat as a complete moviegoing experience. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" can't transcend the fundamental problem built into movies and television shows about magic. It isn't really magic if you're watching it second hand. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Did the producers appeal to a denominator even lower than common by making their film as dumb as possible, or did it just turn out that way? Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You watch it thinking that it should be smarter and funnier, but you have a pretty good time anyway. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Carell is at the top of his form as the self-absorbed Burt struggles to maintain his haughty sangfroid while trying to convince himself, and everyone else, that's he's still a superstar. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone has its cornball charm, thanks largely to the confident work of old pros Carell, Arkin, and Buscemi, but it's ultimately a big, gaudy, predictable show, strictly for the rubes and tourists. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Carell doesn't give us enough to root for. Burt is a jerk, pure and simple, with the charm missing. Sure, in the predictable story he slouches toward redemption, but at a certain point, it's too late to care. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Burt Wonderstone is a lazy, underwritten imitation Will Ferrell movie. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Occasionally amusing but instantly forgettable. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The typical gags involve burnt flesh and the sight of someone pretending to crush a puppy to death. It's not a comedy; it's a wince-edy. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: This comedy about a magician who must hit bottom before rising again to the wonder of his beloved craft pulls plenty of sweet moments and a slew of laughs out of a story that might have been thin air. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" isn't incredible, but it's a nicely performed bit of programmed Hollywood hilarity. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: There are a lot of big stars...What's missing are a lot of big laughs. Well, there are about four...so that's quite a bit of downtime between guffaws to contemplate just why so many people who should know better are involved in this. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Too cautious and unimaginative to bring off what a great magic trick - or comedy - should do: make us laugh out loud with surprise. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: One-off gags and throwaway lines muffle the creaks of a well-worn plot. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Since every funny moment here involves cynicism, arrogance, heartlessness, and self-destruction, you never believe the movie when it's telling you how nice and contrite these characters are. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Some laughter but little magic in by-the-book Las Vegas comeback tale. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: After it's over, poof! You'll forget you ever watched it in the first place. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Calling it "The Mildly Diverting Burt Wonderstone" would have been more accurate, but how many tickets is that going to sell? Read more

Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News: There's no question that you will laugh at times throughout "Burt Wonderstone." But if you are looking for something truly magical, you will come away disappointed. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: [It] fumbles so badly that you can almost make out the flop-sweat on its brow. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: There are some funny bits and characters around the edges of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, but its core is empty of humor. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Like a creaky Vegas act desperate to please, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" is so eager you can't help wanting to like it. But you also can't help wondering if something better is playing in the theater next-door. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A veritable festival of bad toupees and repeated gags that just lie there, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone'' runs a bit more than an hour and a half but seems much longer - like it had been edited down at the last minute. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The material isn't sufficiently funny to allow me to forgive the film's feeble storyline and two-dimensional inhabitants. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Welcome back, Hilarious Jim Carrey. We've missed you. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Magicians have been pulling rabbits out of hats for ages. And yet, with all this talent, no one can make a decent script materialize. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Is this really what the audience wants? A deliriously unhinged setup and larger-than-life characters, abruptly devolving into a mind-numbingly familiar story with a totalitarian happy ending? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's as if Carrey has been waiting, through a series of bland and corny showcases, to find a role that doesn't derail or divert his intensity, but embraces it. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: After 100 minutes of "Burt Wonderstone's" scant laughs and missed opportunities, you wish it would just vanish down a trapdoor. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" may be a fake, but the way it produces new amusement from old tricks is a treat. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone isn't. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: No amount of smoke and mirrors can hide the burst seams, frayed wires and bad-hearted humour of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Always seems poised to deliver big laughs but, once the smoke and the pigeons clear, leaves you only with a mild chuckle or two. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: In the end, there's nothing here beyond the obvious riches-to-rags, friendship-lost-and-found, celebrity-rivalry cliches. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Wonderstone's climax revolves around an improbable comeback trick that involves making an entire audience disappear. The movie itself should have no problem accomplishing that feat long before the end credits. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Perhaps it's a magical disappearing humor act that afflicts this throwaway. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Carell again plays oblivious in the fitfully inspired magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, but he doesn't play human. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The true comeback story in this fictional comeback story doesn't belong to a character named Burt Wonderstone, but to an actor named Jim Carrey. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A generic, fitfully funny mainstream comedy that doesn't nearly get the best from its name-brand players but doesn't qualify as a desecration, either. Read more