Magicians (2007)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Sadly Over-hyped

How sad is this?

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The problem with Magicians, the movie in which David Mitchell and Robert Webb make their attempt to transfer from TV to big screen success (and like so many British comedy duos, fail to do so) is that it feels like no more than an over-glorified sketch from their TV show.That in itself isn't necessarily a criticism - it rolls amiably along, with sufficient in the way of plot and subplot interest to hold the interest - but the scale of its ambition seems to fall short somehow. Films don't have to be big to work as cinema movies, but they do have to have an awareness that the medium isn't quite the same. Here, Mitchell and Webb play more or less exactly the same characters they play in Peepshow and, more to the point, one is aware that they are "TV acting" from the very start.But the story is OK, with uncertainty as to whether the beheading which starts the film is accidental or deliberate until the very end, and there are some pleasing supporting characters (Karl's manager, Jessica Hynes(Stephenson)'s glamorous assistant and Andrea Riseborough's office girl are all people whose company I enjoyed.All in all, a failure in its attempt to transfer Mitchell and Webb to cinema (in which they are, at least, in good company), but a noble failure which is not without merit.

Well, I haven't seen Peep Show and I don't know how great Mitchell and Webb are in that production, but evaluating on the basis what I saw on Magicians - I have only one message to those guys: "Don't quit your day job!" Script wasn't good - jokes were boring and dumb, characters stereotypical and obnoxious. Whole idea behind the script was immature and incomplete. I had two or three laughs when watching this movie - and I'm grateful for those, but everything else was just clumsy and predictable.David Mitchell's character(Harry) was just silly and irritating. If I would ever meet that kind of rambling fool I would beat him up just to shut him up. :) Karl (Robert Webb) was a little bit more likable character - but still quite boring.There are two kinds of people - those who like British comedies and those who don't. If you belong to the first category then you MIGHT get something out of this film... but I doubt that.

This movie, for the wife and I at least, was very hard to connect with. Maybe it's the fact that we are Americans, and we are just too ignorant to get the Brit Wit. Although we do love almost every Monty Python, and Benny Hill that we have ever seen.This one though is just..... I don't know...obtuse? It seems like a wanna-be documentary and not a real 'film'. Comparing it to 'The Prestige', or 'The Illusionist' is quite unfair to this movie. If you liked those, then don't expect the same from this. It's quirky, somewhat non-linear, and quite frankly, just not that great. If it pops up on the tele, then maybe give it a watch over dinner. But I honestly can't even say rent it.

It's hard to comment on this film. I'm a big fan of Mitchell and Webb and thought this film was really going to make me laugh...it didn't. There are some funny moments but nothing special, and i agree that it falls very short of Peep Show and definitely thought that Armstrong and Bain could have come up with something a lot more exciting and funny. The plot is boring and a few gags enable it to just keep going but the writers have a long way to go until they reach Pegg and Wright, in the British Comedy Films department...Stick to T.V.I'd say it's a film to rent or go round your mates house and watch if they end up buying it. But my advice is...don't waste your money.