'THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE'

'THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE' (PG-13) (2 STARS)

Written by Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley
Directed by Don SCardino
Actors: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Jim Carrey, Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini.

There is a sweet side to Steve Carell and the characters he plays, even in his Michael Scott character on "The Office". That has transitioned into his movie career as he has picked some good movies that show his dramatic and sweet side well. You always like his characters and when his characters are cold (Hope Springs) or mean spirited like in this new movie it doesn't fit him well. "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" just fails to give Carell any chance to show off his skills. It is a character we hate so much for the first half of the movie so that when they try to make the character sypathetic with bad melodrama in the end I didn't care or buy it.
Now if the movie was fresh or funny I wouldn't care if Burt was a prick but I didn't laugh at all during this tame comedy.

I expected more Will Ferrell type nastiness but instead here I get groan worthy jokes and boring story developments wasting a great cast. Also when you have the great Steve Buscemi joining Carell as a partner and you don't use Buscemi's off kilter comedy skills you are not paying attention. Carell plays Burt Wonderstone whose lifetime buddy joins him in adulthood as a famous Magic act. Burt grew up admiring an old time magician played by Alan Arkin and Burt was a sweet kid but now he is a dick that treats his friends and others like dirt. This is a character that Carell doesn't and shouldn't play, a jerk who is arrogant beyond belief. I know this is an exaggerated comic character but when Carell plays characters that can be mean to others they usually are really clueless and actually have a sweet side. When the movie tries to turn Burt into a lovable, sweet person the movie becomes a real sham.

This story falls into my "Full House" rule where a movie is mean spirited in the first half but in the second half the movie turns sappy. If you want to make an edgy comedy that parodies magicians and reality programs you have to remain sharp and even nasty. This is such a safe movie and that surprises me because Jim Carey plays a David Blaine type, arrogant magician whose magic acts have shock value. When Carey is on screen the movie does get a little edgy but then it pulls back. Carey is at least more interesting than the others but Carey comes off as weird, not funny weird. The movie also wastes the talents of Arkin and even Olivia Wilde (TV's House) who has a comedy career ahead of her a la Emily Blunt.

I didn't laugh at all really during this safe and sometimes clumsy comedy until a joke in the end credits but I really wanted to laugh but it never came. Actually my favorite comedic performance here belongs to James Gandolfini as Burt's agent and Steve Buscemi can make any bad movie better. The problem is that I would rather see a really vulgar, gross and black comedy about the Jim Carey character. That would be a funnier and more cutting edge comedy instead of the dull, unfunny and messy bore that this movie is. Steve Carell has a lot of movies coming out this year and he gets a lot of screenplays thrown at him. I just urge him to play characters that are in his wheelhouse, not jerks that are shallowly written like Burt.