MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (2014)

Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Eileen Atkins, Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater
RunTime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/magicinthemoonlight/

Opening Day: 14 August 2014

Synopsis: Set in the 1920s on the opulent Riviera in the south of France, Woody Allen’s MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT is a romantic comedy about a master magician (Colin Firth) trying to expose a psychic medium (Emma Stone) as a fake.

Movie Review:

There isn’t a living director in Hollywood as prolific as Woody Allen - and in case you’re keeping count, ‘Magic in the Moonlight’ is his 47^th feature film as director as well as his eighth to be set in Europe in the past nine years. Besides keeping up with an output of one film per year, Allen’s fans will also tell you that the filmmaker is also highly consistent, in that if you love one Allen film, you’ll probably love all of them or at least find them agreeable. And so it is with ‘Magic’, which isn’t his best for sure, but easily counts as one of his more agreeably enjoyable ones.

The plot is simple - a cynical and cold-blooded British illusionist named Stanley (Colin Firth) and goes by the stage name of Wei-Ling Soo is invited by a fellow magician (Simon McBurney) to debunk a celebrated American mystic (Emma Stone) working her way through the Cote d'Azur. That synopsis alone should already read like comfort food to Allen’s fans. For one, Stanley is without a doubt yet another of Allen’s movie misanthropes, arguably a stand-in for the cantankerous type which Allen has played countless times in many of his earlier films.

Then, there is the fact that a young, beautiful woman would fall in love with this grumpy middle-aged character. From being adamant that Sophie is no more than a phony spiritualist faking her gifts in order to win the charms of a rich widow (Jacki Weaver) and her equally wealthy son (Hamish Linklater), our said magician begins to suspect that Sophie might be the real deal. That transformation happens because, whether he realises it then or not, Stanley has in fact fallen under Sophie’s spell, a spell called love that proves not everything in this world happens only by reason.

Ah yes, Allen has always revealed a certain preoccupation between rationalism and faith, and it is manifestly clear from the exposition to which he has imparted to his film’s characters that he very much enjoys having the same debate yet again. Yet, familiarity isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself; like most, if not all, of Allen’s pictures, Allen’s ability to come up with amusing one-liners and withering remarks has always been the most entertaining aspect of his films, and there are more than a fair share of these here about the inconvenience and bedevilment of romantic attraction.

Allen’s voice is loud and clear behind Firth’s character here, but the British actor makes the delivery refreshingly his. Rather than just channelling Allen, Firth seems to relish the opportunity to play against type here - not just starched and stern but loquacious and self-absorbed to the point of proclaiming himself a genius. His is a brilliantly self-aware performance of superb comic timing, and he renders Allen’s dialogue in an utterly naturalistic manner with a crisp British accent. He and Stone are also nicely matched, an unlikely pair if you like in terms of both size and age, but complements whose personalities create the sort of sparks you’d love to see in a rom-com.

Indeed, if there was any doubt that Allen is capable of doing a romance, ‘Magic’ should put them to rest. Following in the footsteps of the genre’s trifles, Allen offers a happily-ever-after ending that will leave a smile on your face. More so than usual, there also seems to be a grudging admission by Allen himself that his perennial confrontation between romance and reason might err on the side of the former, even as he continues to pooh-pooh those who subscribe to religion. His concoction of love also benefits from the air of romanticism surrounding the 1920s Gatsby-like setting, from the costumes to the parties to the sumptuous French countryside where the film was shot on location.

Is it magical is probably a logical question to ask about ‘Magic’ itself, and the answer in this instance is undeniably yes. It may no more be a trivial entry in the volume of Allen’s vast filmography, but that doesn’t mean you won’t succumb to its uniquely Allen charms. Not only are there the usual Allen zingers, the cast is uniformly excellent, especially the chemistry between Firth and Stone. If you need a little ‘Magic’, this is one frothy, buoyant mix of wit and romance that will surely leave you bewitched. 

Movie Rating:

(An agreeably whimsical blend of wit and romance which you'll love to fall under the spell of)

Review by Gabriel Chong