Woody Allen is at a pretty enviable place in Hollywood. The 78 year old director has maintained his film-a-year pace for almost his entire career, and carries enough weight to basically hand-pick his cast each year. Unfortunately for the actors, it’s often a roll of the dice what type of Woody Allen film you’re going to find yourself in.
Set in the 1920s, Magic in the Moonlight tells the story of Stanley Crawford, played by Colin Firth, a world famous magician who performs under the identity Wei Ling Soo. After a show in Berlin Stanley is greeted by his old friend and colleague Howard Burkin, who is at his wit’s end about a young woman in the Cote d’Azure in France who claims to be a medium. Having been convinced of her powers himself, Howard has come to Stanley to ferret out this trickster, a pastime in which Stanley excels.
Off to the South of France where Stanley happens to have an aunt named Vanessa with whom they can stay. Soon they’re introduced to the mystical American Sophie Baker (Emma Stone) and her controlling mother (Marcia Gay Harden). Having duped everyone at the estate where they are staying, Sophie is in the process of being wooed by the wealthy Brice (Hamish Linklater), who strums dopey melodies for her on his ukulele. Delighted by Sophie’s ability to connect her with her dead husband, Brice’s mother (Jacki Weaver) plans to fund a school for mediums run by the Bakers.
Flat, pedantic and utterly without energy, the film plods along as if it’s bored of itself.
The film plays out rather predictably as Stanley becomes more and more convinced of Sophie’s powers, and finds himself developing romantic feelings towards her. Colin Firth is his steady, endearing self, but he’s given little to work with here. The character of Stanley is an insufferable bore. Intentionally so, but it doesn’t make you like him any more. As Sophie, Emma Stone is doing her moon-eyed best, but it never comes across as particularly funny. All of the supporting actors have their moment to shine, but other than Jacki Weaver they are all utterly forgettable, largely because they’re let down by a rather ho-hum script.
It’s hard to say that this is comedy. Flat, pedantic and utterly without energy, the film plods along as if it’s bored of itself. There isn’t even much in the way of Allen’s normal verbal flourishes. Half the dialogue feels like it’s just reiterating points we’ve already heard. The film is screaming for a comic supporting character to liven it up (similar to the character Allen played in John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo) but one never arrives.
Instead we’re treated to a slow and uninteresting romantic story between two people who would never actually come together by virtue of their age difference alone (Firth is 53, Stone is 25). Add to that the uncomfortable Chinaman get-up Colin Firth wears at the beginning of the film, and it plays out like an inappropriate joke your Grandfather would tell after a few glasses of wine.
Allen proved with last year’s Blue Jasmine that he still has the chops to put gold in his actor’s hands, but this one misses the mark. Magic in the Moonlight is an intriguing premise on paper, but never delivers. Like a longtime magician palming cards, Allen seems to be going through the motions of making a film without even thinking about it. We’re okay if this one gets lost in the deck.
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