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Magic in the Moonlight

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Magic in the Moonlight (Facebook)
Magic in the Moonlight (Facebook)
What's it about:

A master magician is trying to expose a psychic medium as a fake. What follows is a series of events that are magical in every sense of the word that send the characters reeling. In the end, the biggest trick is the one that fools us all.

What we thought:

Colin Firth and Emma Stone is probably the oddest onscreen couple you would ever see, but although it sounds weird on paper, in their Magic in the Moonlight characters as an illusionist and alleged psychic, you honestly believe that they were made for each other.

Set in the 20s, a famous illusionist is called to a rich family to investigate the claims made by a woman who possesses psychic abilities. Stanley (Firth) is a sceptic deep to his core, but he is perplexed by the charismatic Sophie (Stone), who has also enthralled a wealthy family’s  youngest son.

I am not a big fan of Woody Allen and his neurotic films (although I can admit his brilliance), but I was surprised to see such a light-hearted film come from someone who penned the likes of Blue Jasmine. The whole feel of the film was very soft and glowing, with a touch of cynicism and deceit. Although the script can’t compare to Allen’s other work, the performances and amazing comedic timing of Firth and Stone pulled it from being ‘another film’ to an enjoyable romantic comedy that relies on wit and mystery rather than the usual gags and sexual innuendo to make the audience laugh.

The most annoying character was the love-struck millionaire (Hamish Linklater from The Crazy Ones), constantly singing odes to Sophie and won’t shut up about how he would shower her in material wealth once they married.

His most aggravating aspect is that he just assumes she would marry him, and because of her poor background she would have no reason to say no (the joys of women’s oppression in the olden days). I guess he is supposed to grind your gears, but it was completely overdone. If I was in her shoes I would have had a hard time resisting the urge to take his hipster ukulele and smash it on his head.

If you’re a Woody Allen fan, you might not enjoy this heart-warming ode to love, although you would be able to totally get on board with the crass ‘life sucks’ outlook of Stanley, but his marrow gets sucked out of him when he falls for Sophie’s wily charms.

Magic in the Moonlight is great film for the romantic die-hards out there and will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Unlike Blue Jasmine.


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