What makes it different from others?

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Crappy film

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Mitchell & Webb have done some very funny material in the past. This film is, at best, mildly amusing.The premise is amusing, in a black comedy way.The characters are amusing, occasionally.The script is amusing, in places.Individually all of the contributors are capable of so much more and it is disappointing to end up with a film that aspires to be funny but falls short in so many ways. It simply fails to sustain any interest. Much of the humour is hackneyed and its predictability takes away so much of the punch that you find yourself hunting for humour that ultimately is not there to find.Overall the best I can bring myself to recommend is if this comes round on TV and you have little else to do on a rainy day give it a try.

Mitchell & Webb have tried to take that final step from TV to movie fame like Simon Pegg, Ali G and Steve Coogan before them.But they failed miserably. Having seen the trailer for this I thought it looked like a really good film but quite frankly your better off sticking with the trailer as the film is extremely dull.The only real highlight for me was Jessica Stephenson playing the assistant (and looking fabulous too!).Mitchell & Webb are funny in sketch format but they couldn't manage to translate that into a movie length format here.The magic looks OK, some of the side characters are mildly amusing but the film falls far of being even semi-funny.Die hard fans of the duo may enjoy this as may fans of Spaced but I really didn't like it.

"Magicians" has had mixed reviews in the UK. It's from the same producer/writing team as "Peep Show" (Andrew O'Connor, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain), and if you like "Peep Show", which I certainly do, I don't see why you shouldn't enjoy "Magicians" a great deal. I did. I thought that it was mostly really funny, with Mitchell and Webb playing variations on their familiar "Peep Show" persona's.It's very British. Set in dreary and mundane locations and all about the plight of losers and misguided dreamers. I cannot see "Magicians" even getting a release overseas, but it will go down a storm when it inevitably gets shown on British television, it's natural home.So, best bits? Jessica Stevenson's mental audition to the strains of Electric Six's "Gay Bar". (What a brilliant single that was.) Steve Edge's selfish and egotistical magician and his winner of a chat up line. His opening line to the Jersey crowd is a classic. Peter Capaldi's arrogant and sexist compere. The stooge demonstrating his "trip". Robert Webb's mentalist act. David Mitchell's heartfelt tribute to the woman he loves... and it's immediate retraction.Cracking stuff. Give it a go.

I'm not joking. This is not a throwaway 1 out of 10. It's midnight, I'm tired and want to sleep but I have to write this before I forget tonight's cinematic shocker. This is hands down the worst film I have ever seen, and I have seen The Avengers and Not Now Comrade, so that's really saying something. I had to leave this film half way through, such was its appalling suckiness, and come to think of it I managed to stay all the way through Ghost Rider so don't think I don't have willpower. This film just truly blew.First of all, to the other reviewers who rated this god-awful tripe anything more than 1 out of 10 (apart from the 10/10 scorer who is obviously with the film's marketing team) - have you actually ever seen a funny film? Saying "suck my wand" on its own isn't good enough. Go and rent out This Is Spinal Tap, Ghostbusters or Planes, Trains and Automobiles - that, my friends, is how to make a funny film.So what is wrong with it. First of all, why magicians? Everyone hates magicians. Magicians think they are smarter than you. Oh look, you fooled me with your MAGIC TRICK. Always remember that magicians are terribly lonely OCD cases who will obsessively learn how to flick a card up their sleeve for days at a time. They are worse than mime artists, at the bottom of the entertainment barrel. So why do I want to watch a film about them? Answer: I don't. Unless it's The Prestige. Shhh, move on...Secondly, how did the writers (who have previously done such quality work as Peep Show, The Thick Of It and Smack The Pony) not notice that they had forgot to put any jokes in it? This "comedy" is resolutely chuckle-free until at least an hour in - when my girlfriend and I gave up and watched Spiderman 3 instead, which at least justified its ticket price with some impressive special effects. Which brings me to: 3. Mitchell and Webb. Apparently the only super power they have these days is the power to stomp all over their incredible comedic potential by doing every job they're offered. They're everybloodywhere! I used to listen to them on Radio 4 and they did some of the most genuinely hilarious sketches I have ever heard. But since they took the Apple shilling I just can't get away from them. They seem to have the whole voice-over industry to themselves now! Death from overexposure. But just putting them into something does not *magically* make it funny.Finally, what really takes the biscuit is that this film was part financed by the National Lottery. Which means that some good cause somewhere has had to go without funding so that Mitchell and Webb can not be funny in this crappy film.And that really sucks.