Movie Reaction: Magic in the Moonlight

Formula: The Prestige / Midnight in Paris

Why I Saw It: There is so little out there that I really want to see and this would help my eventual plan to see all the Woody Allen Movies.

Cast: I like Colin Firth in his grump mode. He's kind of the Greg House of Magic in this and in the tradition of Woody Allen avatars, he's a solid choice to stand in for the director. It's been a long time since I was excited to hear about a new Emma Stone movie, and that's a shame, because I think she has so much potential. In general, I love the cast of a Woody Allen movie because it's a matter of who wants to work with him at the time he is shooting a particular movie rather than finding the best fit (he doesn't have the time to do tryouts forever). So, that's how you gets others like Marcia Gay Harden, Simon McBurney, and Hamish Linklater, who are good, not exceptional.

Plot: Stanley (Firth) is a renown magician illusionist called in to a friend of a friend's to disprove a woman (Stone) who claims to be a psychic. Shenanigans ensue and guess who eventually falls in love. It's a simple story. Allen churns out a new movie that he writes and directs every year. As a result, many of his scripts play like first drafts, which is very much the case here. Unlike last year's Blue Jasmine, which was a showcase for the lead (Cate Blanchett), this was more similar to Midnight in Paris. He had a point he wanted to make. In Paris, the lesson was that nostalgia tricks us into believing things were better than they actually were. Moonlight ends up being about the potential for reason and happiness to conflict with one another. I'd be curious to see what the script would've been like had he taken another pass at it, but that's not the way Allen works.

Elephant in the Room: Wait, Firth and Stone are romantically tied in this? It's impossible to not see a male lead in a Woody Allen movie as a Woody Allen stand in, so it's hard not to think of Allen's 38 year age difference with his wife when considering Stone and Firth's 28 year difference. I normally don't harp on something like this, but I keep thinking about Stone and Amanda Bynes playing classmates in Easy A. That's the same Bynes who played Firth's daughter in What A Girl Wants. As I mentioned earlier, Allen is more focused on who he wants to work with than getting the right person. I assume we should see Stone's character as a little older than she really is and Firth as younger. Even still, that's a mighty gap.

To Sum Things Up: 
There are two types of Woody Allen movies (especially in this phase of his career) and they break down easily. Female Lead: Showcase for an actress. Male Lead: Stand in for Allen working through some sort of existential dilemma. This obviously falls in the latter category. I don't say this to be reductive. Allen's always doing interesting things. More than anyone I can think of, each of his movies are part of a larger discussion and this is another interesting entry. We've had 40 years to form an opinion of him and he's no longer concerned with turning anyone into a fan (if he ever was). That's a long-winded way of saying that if you've liked his movies before, there's a good chance you'll like this. 

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend