Magic In The Moonlight – Movie Review

Magic In The Moonlight – PG-13
Release Date: Fri 15 Aug 2014

Magic In The Moonlight is the story of a renowned magician (Colin Firth) trying to uncover how a young psychic medium (Emma Stone) is deceiving people. He is an expert in spotting how people perform tricks and is brought in by a friend and fellow magician who cannot figure out her method.

The movie’s character exposition is mainly realized through these early scenes where the medium works out background information. We are engaged to try and figure out the trick ourselves, guessing along as the movie clips by. While I did successfully guess what was happening before the characters themselves, it was still an interesting story to follow edited with an almost laser precision. Some scenes were so incredibly short it felt rushed while others were allowed to linger and sustain an occasional monologue.

The movie’s theme of magic and the unseen world versus science and rational thinking don’t overstate themselves either. The cases are made, challenged and explored without ever condescending to the audience. Firth’s character is hilariously tactless and egocentric. All of this said, the movie’s period and music are the only real clues that this is a Woody Allen movie. That isn’t a knock against it, Allen makes some great “uncharacteristic” films (such as the breathtaking Blue Jasmine) but I left feeling that this movie didn’t quite have his voice.

Aaron and I saw it in the theater had a discussion in the car: