Movie Review: Magic in the Moonlight

3.5 stars out of 5

We have kind of an arrangement: Woody Allen makes movies, and I go see them.

There’s a certain comfort level. The credits font, the old-timey music. I always think they’re good—and sometimes they’re very good. Sometimes they’re more developed, and sometimes—like with this one—they’re more like a novella. Or maybe even a short story.

Magic in the Moonlight isn’t top-flight Woody, but it certainly gets the job done. His premise is whimsical and straightfoward: Colin Firth is a world-class magician who sets out to debunk Emma Stone, a mentalist who may be bilking the rich. So we follow him from Berlin to the south of France to investigate. Hey, where would you rather spend a summer day?

Also, it’s 1928.

Even in Woody’s lighter fare—especially of recent vintage—he likes to tackle the Big Questions. Here, it’s… oh… just whether or not there’s a spiritual world. And why even the most cynical among us often cling to a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, there is something out there. Anything. Because, is this all there is? To paraphrase The X-Files: We want to believe.

Colin Firth plays The Most Cynical Among Us. Woody makes the interesting choice of making Firth’s character immediately unlikable. (Or maybe he’s just following the current Hollywood mandate that you must have an “anti-hero.” Nah, Woody wouldn’t, would he?) Guess what? We start pulling for the big lug.

And Emma Stone… I believe I have previously gone on record as saying I am a fan of Ms. Stone. Big fan. Woody’s camera adores her too—she’s all willowy with cute hats pulled low and tra-la-la dresses. I don’t think that’s actually a thing, but it is now, OK? Stone gets to show some sass and humor too.

What, you thought there wouldn’t be humor? Granted, there isn’t a Woody stand-in here, but listen hard enough and there are definitely Woody one-liners. Firth and Stone are both talented enough to deliver them subtly. Firth gets the harsher insults, while Stone gets to do some light physical schtick, going into trances and what-not.

Of course they start falling in love and of course it’s a little bit creepy in a Woody Allen movie that no one dwells on the fact that he is twice her age. Firth at least refers to Stone’s other suitor, the amusing Hamish Linklater, as “young.” Linklater is only 12 years older than Stone.

But what can I say? Woody makes them, I go see them, and they’re all good.