Film

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Name: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2013
Cast: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Jim Carrey, James Gandolfini

Comedy

A Vegas magician's ego takes a hit when street magic goes viral. Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi play a broken-up magic duo navigating obsolescence and redemption. It's silly, heartfelt, and genuinely charming—a crowd-pleaser about the gap between real connection and spectacle, delivered with enough warmth to forgive its rough edges.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy broad, good-natured comedy about showbiz vanity and the absurd theatre of Vegas stagecraft, with a cast that commits fully to big, silly characters.

Skip it if you want sharp, subtle satire or a tight plot, since this one leans on broad gags and its story beats feel familiar long before the credits roll.

What it asks of you: It runs about a hundred minutes at an easy, cheerful clip, asking little more than a willingness to laugh at larger-than-life egos and go along with the bigness.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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The same ensemble warmth and Vegas setting, with charismatic performers pulling off something clever together. Fun heist energy where the joy comes from watching them work as a unit.

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DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story2004

Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn's broken-up duo reuniting for one last shot. Same beat of ego, friendship, and absurdist comedy in service of something earnest underneath.

But Cruder and more aggressively silly—it commits harder to lowbrow humor without Burt's sentimentality.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy2004

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The Respectful Prostitute1952

Both hinge on the question of whether performance is ever just entertainment, or whether the mask you wear is always political and personal. One is vaudeville, the other is existential dread, but they're asking the same question.

A Sartre play about performance, racial violence, and the gap between what a person appears to be and what they actually believe. Intellectually fierce and morally urgent—a complete tonal inversion.

But It is structurally a play, stagey and deliberately theatrical rather than cinematic. Heavy subject matter entirely unlike Burt's lightness.