Film

Penn & Teller Get Killed

Name: Penn & Teller Get Killed
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1989
Cast: Penn Jillette, Teller, Caitlin Clarke, David Patrick Kelly, Leonardo Cimino

Comedy
Film noir
Relentless

Penn and Teller's 1989 film is a deranged comedy-thriller where the magicians play themselves, caught between a stalker obsessed with killing them and a femme fatale with her own agenda. Arthur Penn directs with anarchic energy, treating violent set pieces as punchlines. It's gleefully unhinged, operating in the space between Hitchcock and vaudeville—for viewers who find conventional comedy too polite.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy comedy that plays a shaggy, self-aware premise straight, then keeps pushing it until the jokes turn into suspense, especially if you like magic-world cynicism and genre-bending craft.

Skip it if you want steady gags from start to finish, because its laughs may arrive in uneven bursts and the stretches between can feel slack if you're not on its wavelength.

What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes, with a plot that keeps shifting shape and a tone that changes lanes, so it wants your full attention rather than half of it.

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