MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (review)

Review by Elizabeth Robbins

Magic in the Moonlight is a romantic comedy with Allen’s telltale wit that harkens back to writer/director Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo. Allen seems to have a love and affinity for Old Hollywood and it shows.

Magic in the Moonlight takes place during the roaring 20’s on the stylish French Riviera. Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) plays Stanley Crawford, an arrogant, aristocratic Englishman who who is secretly Wei Ling Soo, a famous, Chinese magician.

As a master of illusion, Stanley sees no real magic in the world. He believes in only cold, pure logic.

To him, magic is all tricks and slight of hand.

And he revels in exposes psychic and mediums as being fakes.

So when his long-time friend and fellow magician, Howard Burkan (Simon McBurney; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), ask for his help in exposing Sophie Baker (Emma Stone, The Help), an American psychic that is plaguing a wealth family, Stanley jumps at the chance to expose her.

At first Stanley is completely dismissive of Sophie.

He finds her beneath him. Being neither well-educated nor having any breeding, he sees no way she could compete with him. He declares that he will be able to debunk her in no time. However, as time goes Stanley comes no closer to exposing Sophie as a fake. On the contrary, she is able to delve into Stanley’s past through her “mental images”, tuning into personal information she could have not possible way of knowing.

Against his better judgement, Stanley begins to believe that Sophie may be the genuine article, causing him to reevaluate the way he looks at life and the world around him. His new view shines a different light on Sophie herself. Stanley begins to see a magic there between them as well.

Firth is perfectly cast as the stiff Englishman. He blusters through each scene, always confident that he knows more than anyone else in the room. Emma Stone does her best to act as a quick-witted, American foil to Firth’s stuffy, proper aristocrat but mostly seems out of her depth. She’s not bad, she’s just not as good as the rest of the cast around her. She is surrounded by actors and actress that have won Oscars and or have been appointed CBE by the Queen. In this company, one can’t fault her for looking a little out of place as the girl hired to be the pretty face. Dame Eileen Atkins (Cold Mountain) plays the wonderfully spirited, wealthily Aunt that we all wish we had. Oscar winner, Marcia Gay Harden (Pollack) takes a turn as Sophie’s eye-on-the-prize mother, and Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) is lovable as the widow who just wants the comfort of hearing again from her deceased husband. Their delivery of Allen’s dialogue is vintage Woody Allen.

Woody Allen loves this time era. His attention to detail goes beyond costumes and sets. His collaboration with cinematographer Darius Khondji (Se7en, Midnight in Paris) gets the film of the time right. From the framing of the shots to the lighting of the characters to the coloring of the film, Magic in the Moonlight feels like a film of Old Hollywood.

In a summer of explosive blockbusters, sophomoric comedies, and sappy romances, Magic in the Moonlight make a refreshing change.