Magic Act

Con films and magic - two things I love that go great together. Hence: Now You See Me (2013). It's about a batch of stage magicians whose big Vegas act is to rob a bank and to give all the money away to the audience. Now that's a show!

The magicians are:

• Jesse Eisenberg as the David Copperfield-like big Vegas star
• Ilsa Fisher as his ex-assistant
• Woody Harrelson is a hypnotist/mentalist reduced to running scams on tourists in malls
• Dave Franco is the Kid, a fan who might just be running an All About Eve on the rest

Mark Ruffalo is the FBI man tracking them down (they really do rob a bank without leaving the stage), and Melanie Laurent is the beautiful Interpol agent working on the case - because the bank they robbed is in France. Michael Caine gamely plays their backer and manager.

Most of the movie is snarky dialog and flashy magic tricks. Of course, all the tricks are revealed (mostly) and of course they mostly make approximately zero sense. But so what, it's all good fun. Some people will be put off by the total lack of  likable characters, or the plot holes, but I just rolled with it. Hey if these clever heists worked, more people would be pulling them.

We've been watching a lot of Leverage lately - the quirky band of thieves and grifters who right wrongs with their extra-legal powers. If you can take the level of unreality in something like that, then this might be right up your alley.