Magicians (film)

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Magicians
Promotional poster for the film.
Directed by	Andrew O'Connor
Produced by	Ollie Madden
Written by	Jesse Armstrong Sam Bain
Starring	David Mitchell Robert Webb Jessica Hynes
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	May 18, 2007
Running time	90 mins
Country	UK
Language	English
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Magicians is a 2007 British comedy film released on May 18, 2007.^[1] It stars comic duo Robert Webb and David Mitchell as stage magicians Karl and Harry respectively. The two magicians compete together in a magic competition, despite their personal differences. The film is directed by Andrew O'Connor and written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, who are also the writers of the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, which stars Mitchell and Webb. Other principal cast members include Jessica Hynes, Darren Boyd, Steve Edge and Peter Capaldi,^[1] as well as Andrea Riseborough.^[2]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast and characters 3 Production 4 Reception 4.1 Box office performance 4.2 Critical reaction 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Harry Kane (Mitchell) and Karl Allen (Webb) are best friends who work together in a successful and popular magic double act, with Harry's wife Carol (Sarah Hadland) working as their assistant. After one show, however, Harry discovers Karl and Carol backstage in a magic box having sex. During the next show, Carol is locked into a guillotine as part of a climatic trick, only for the blade to decapitate her; it is not immediately clear whether Harry has murdered her or whether she was the victim of a freak accident. Four years later, the act has broken up and the two friends – now bitter rivals – have gone their separate ways; Harry, having given up professional magic, is working in a Wilkinson hardware store, only to be fired after a customer complains when he creates an illusion of him cutting his arm severely with a knife blade during a sales pitch, whilst Karl is attempting to reinvent himself as a David Blaine-esque magician called the Mindmonger, with limited success. During an unsuccessful impromptu-pitch at a television corporation, the only person he manages to impress is Dani (Riseborough), the tea lady, who Karl immediately gets a crush on much to the jealousy of his incompetent agent Otto (Boyd), who nurses an unsubtle homosexual crush on him.

After numerous failed attempts at raising money, Harry sees a poster for the "Magic shield" competition held in Jersey, with a prize of £20,000, and decides to enter. Trying to find a new assistant, Harry is forced to recruit the only applicant, Linda (Hynes), an old work friend whose only entertainment skills are a terrible display of dancing. As she will not be sufficient to get him into the competition, Harry swallows his pride and contacts Karl, who agrees to enter the competition with him; although their reputation in the magic community is still strong enough to get them into the tournament without an audition, the tensions between them ultimately prove too strong to overcome and they decide to go solo from that point on. As Harry and Linda rehearse their magic act, they begin to grow closer, but whilst Linda is open about her interest in Harry, Harry is too uptight and insecure to fully open up. Much to his discomfort, Linda discovers the guillotine amongst his magic props and convinces him to use it as the centrepiece of the finale. Karl, meanwhile, is delighted to learn that Dani has come down from London to see him perform, but is slightly alarmed to discover that she believes him to be a genuine psychic, as he does not approve of cold reading and, like many of the other magicians, considers psychic shows to be a fraud. He nevertheless goes along with her belief, particularly as the interest in the competition has seen him approached by a television producer who wants to make him the centrepiece of a John Edward-like psychic show. Karl agrees to make his act for the finale a medium display, but begins to suffer a crisis of conscience.

Upon learning that Harry has not told Linda of what happened to his wife, Karl informs her; panicked upon discovering that her hotel room has been made vacant and believing she has returned to London, Harry conquers his fear of flying to immediately fly back to London, only to discover as soon as he gets there that she has merely switched rooms and forgotten to inform him. Managing to return to Jersey in time to compete, both Harry and Karl make it through to the final; Linda claims that she is okay with hearing about what happened to Harry’s wife, but tensions between both begin to grow as she struggles with this revelation and whether or not she can trust Harry. The night of the finale, Harry is heartbroken to learn that Linda has apparently slept with another magician, the sleazy and unethical Tony White (Edge); although Linda confirms it, she is lying in an attempt to force Harry to open up about his feelings, which he is still unable to do. Karl, meanwhile, finally consummates his relationship with Dani, but afterwards admits that he is not a true psychic, and betrayed, she shuns him.

That night, Karl and Harry have a confrontation backstage, in which Karl accuses Harry of murdering Carole; Harry angrily refutes the accusation and challenges that Karl merely finds it easier to believe that rather than accept the guilt of betraying his best friend. On stage, Karl begins to pioneer his psychic act, but the stooge he has hired in the crowd accidentally trips and concusses himself on the stage, and upon hearing the sad story of another selected audience member decides that he cannot perpetuate the fraud, admitting on stage that he is not psychic and that it is a fraud, thus ruining his own chances of winning. As a result, Dani forgives him. Harry, as ‘The Black Widower’, starts his guillotine act, but at the moment of truth Linda’s nerve fails her and she flees the stage; although Harry’s act would appear to be ruined, Karl steps forward and announces that he will face the guillotine instead. Karl nervously allows himself to be locked in the guillotine, babbling about how Carole was frequently unfaithful to Harry and forced Karl to have sex with her, and it is unclear what Harry’s reaction will be. The audience watches, transfixed, as Harry appears to decapitate Karl – but it is merely an illusion, and Karl appears unharmed, the trick having worked perfectly. Harry wins the competition, and in his acceptance speech both forgives Karl and admits that he loves Linda, who joins him on stage and apologises for her lack of faith in him, and the two kiss on stage. Their relationship mended, Karl and Harry embark on a reunion tour, incorporating Dani and Linda into the act as their assistants.

[edit] Cast and characters

• David Mitchell as Harry: A traditional stage magician. He had a successful double act with Karl, until he finds out that Karl is sleeping with his wife, who he then accidentally kills. The two go their separate ways.
• Robert Webb as Karl: A more modern magician. Has a successful double act with Harry, until he sleeps with Harry's wife, sending the duo then go their separate ways. He performs in International Magic Shield tournament under the pseudonym "The Mindmonger".
• Jessica Hynes as Linda: Harry's new assistant who he recruits for the International Magic Shield tournament.
• Darren Boyd as Otto: Karl's agent.
• Peter Capaldi as Mike Francis: The competition organiser.
• Steve Edge as Tony White: A wannabe magician.
• Andrea Riseborough as Dani: The "romantic element" of the film.
• Scott Penrose as Magibot: A robotic magician.
• Patrick Page as Wolfgang: An old school cigarette producing conjurer.

Along with Scott Penrose and Patrick Page, another real life magician "Aladin", makes a cameo appearance in the film.^[3]

[edit] Production

The duo had not expected to star in a film at this point of their careers, with Mitchell stating that "it probably came much earlier than we thought we would do a film. It landed very fortuitously on our doormat."^[4] At first, Mitchell and Webb were not considered for the roles of Harry and Karl, but O'Connor changed his mind "it became clear they could do these parts really well. And we thought, well, wouldn't it be great to do our first movie with people we know, because we really admire and enjoy working with them".^[5] Unlike most other Mitchell and Webb projects, Olivia Colman does not have a main part in the film. O'Connor explained that "Olivia was part of the development and did some read-throughs with us. I guess our feeling was that because of the relationship between [Mitchell and Webb] and Olivia in Peep Show, to have taken that same relationship, it would have been a really weird thing for the audience. I must say I think she'd have been great in the part, she was great in the read-throughs, I just thought we couldn't have done that."^[6] Mitchell admitted, the day before the film's release, that he "really got into" his role as Harry.^[7]

Mitchell and Webb were taught basic magical skills for the film, with them each receiving "welcome pack of DVDs telling the history of magic".^[4] Andrew O'Connor was a member of the Magic Circle but was thrown out for revealing secrets, so he and Scott Penrose taught Mitchell and Webb magical skills.^[4] Webb spent two weeks "trying to roll a coin across [his] fingers and [he] still couldn't do it", with Mitchell admitting that "magic proved far more problematic than we anticipated".^[8] Webb stated that the worst part that he had to film "was being buried up to the neck in sand. It's not the most comfortable place to be. I'd be buried for 30 minutes at a time, which doesn't sound that long, but it was the middle of summer and there were a lot of wasps around."^[8] Mitchell had to kiss Jessica Hynes in the film, but admitted that he would have preferred to have kissed Robert Webb as he had done in Peep Show, which he claimed to have been easier, as for that scene he had to "look absolutely rigid at the time".^[8] On the subject of the scene with Hynes, he stated that "the scene went surprisingly well considering we had to do it in front of 700 extras, but if I'd had a single moment more to think about it I'd have been mortified with embarrassment."^[8] Whilst filming in Nottingham, unit signs being used in the film were repeatedly being stolen by teenagers as they had the word "magic" on them. Multiple signs had to be ordered, at £3 each.^[9] The magic shield competition takes place in Jersey, but the filming for these was done in Skegness.^[9]

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office performance

The film charted poorly at the box office, generating £150,000 in its second week, placing it sixth at the British box office.^[10]

[edit] Critical reaction

MRIB said that "the laughs can seem a little sparse" but went on to say that "director Andrew O'Connor makes sure the quality jokes that do surface get more than a few chuckles."^[11] Empire reviewer Olly Richards gave Magicians three stars, concluding that "The bumbling charms of the stars just about pull this through, but there'll be few calls for an encore come the final curtain."^[12] Derek Malcolm said that Mitchell and Webb "don't exactly cover themselves with glory in their first feature film. But they just about reach par." Going to describe the film as a "bit of a mess", although it "raises a few laughs".^[13] Alison Rowat called Magicians "an hour of OK telly trying to pass as a film", and gave it two stars.^[14] Stuart McGurk gave a negative review, citing that "for a much-anticipated film, this is a huge let-down", and that it lacks "the eclectic off-key cruelty and spot-on zingers of the much-revered Peep Show", although he did say that the film "still has the odd good line", but concluded by saying that anyone "expecting anything else will be sorely disappointed".^[15] The Guardian's Phelim O'Neill gave Magicians two stars, calling it "Peep Show the sequel", and stated that "O'Connor's direction has absolutely zero visual flair, making the performers' transition from television to film rather pointless."^[16] The Times' Dominic Maxwell decided that "Magicians doesn't have the brio (or great gags), let alone the marketability, of a Bridget Jones."^[17] Caroline Westbrook gave the film three stars, and gave it an even review, stating that "There's a lot to like about Magicians, especially if you're a fan of Mitchell and Webb", although it "ultimately feels as though it's lacking something". She concluded that "It's a perfectly agreeable way to while away an hour and a half - but don't expect to remember much about it in the morning."^[18] Digital Spy gave the film a positive review, and three stars concluding that "A must for magic and Peep Show fans alike, with some original and brilliant comedy moments."^[19]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Magicians at the Internet Movie Database
• Magicians at Rotten Tomatoes
• Magicians at Channel 4.com
• Magicians at Yahoo!

v • d • e Mitchell and Webb Members David Mitchell  · Robert Webb TV shows Bruiser  · The Mitchell and Webb Situation  · Peep Show  · That Mitchell and Webb Look Radio shows That Mitchell and Webb Sound Tours The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb Films Magicians See also: Get a Mac  · Olivia Colman  · James Bachman  · Paterson Joseph