Review: Magic Moonlight starring Colin Firth and Emma Stone

REVIEW: Woody Allen’s latest film Magic in the Moonlight stars Colin Firth who is 53. His co-star, Emma Stone is 25, and the romantic plot will keep you guessing.

IN the opening scene of Magic in the Moonlight, we meet the master prestidigitator of the 1920s, a belligerent British gent named Stanley (Colin Firth). 

The signature trick in Stanley’s act is a doozy: he can make an elephant disappear from plain sight.

Throughout Magic in the Moonlight, the prolific veteran filmmaker Woody Allen tasks himself with pulling off a similar illusion.

The elephant in the room in this particular case is the age difference between Allen’s two will-they-or-won’t-they? romantic leads.

Firth is 53 years old. His co-star, Emma Stone is 25.

For some members of the audience — particularly those not enamoured of Woody Allen’s controversial private life — that disparity in longevities will not be made to go away.

Each to their own.

Those that can fall under the intended spell cast by Magic in the Moonlight will be rewarded with one of Allen’s finer light comedies of his later years.

While definitely a throwaway trifle when compared to the writer-director’s 2013 caustic classic Blue Jasmine, the film exudes a mannered, yet carefree charm that is a delight to experience.

A basic plot kicks in when we learn of Stanley’s favourite offstage pastime: debunking those fraudsters who take a single trick and use it to take advantage of others.

A fellow magician (Simon McBurney) has informed Stanley of a young woman who is currently causing a sensation in the south of France.

JACKI WEAVER: Tells all on Magic in the Moonlight

Light romantic comedy ... Stanley (Colin Firth) and Sophie (Emma Stone) in a scene from Magc in the Moonlight directed by Woody Allen.

Sophie (Emma Stone) seems blessed with a range of psychic powers that make Nostradamus look like a rank amateur.

Make no mistake, Sophie is a real pro. So much so, that by the time Stanley catches up with her on the Cote d’Azur, she is about to cash in on her biggest payday yet.

A wealthy matron (Jacki Weaver) wants to regularly converse with her dead husband, and Sophie appears to be running a direct line to “the other side.”

Stanley sits in on one of Sophie’s seances. The serial sceptic is seriously shaken by what he sees.

This woman hits every classic mark of a shonky clairvoyant — she favours the one-knock-for-yes-two-knocks-for-no method when calling up the dead — but uses none of the dubious hidden aids.

Looking on ... Brice (Hamish Linklater) and Grace (Jacki Weaver) in Woody Allen’s latest, Magic in the Moonlight.

Stanley can only conclude Sophie is the real deal. As he spends more time in her company, Stanley loses more of the sure footing that has carried him so far in the world of magic.

Throughout the film, the abiding mystery of Sophie’s gift duels for the viewer’s attention with Stanley’s slowly intensifying affection for her.

While both plot strands border on the inexplicable, a carefully controlled chemistry shared by Firth and Stone keeps viewers wondering in all the right ways.

With the possible exception of Daniel Day-Lewis, Firth is undoubtedly the best-spoken actor currently working in movies, and his vivid vocalising of Allen’s dialogue is a recurring strength of Magic in the Moonlight.

Stone acquits herself well in a more subtle fashion. With her character underwritten by necessity, Stone fills the caps with an impressive comic shrewdness she has not revealed before.

Director: Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)

Starring: Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Simon McBurney, Jacki Weaver, Marcia Gay Harden

Sleight difference between psychic & cynic

3 stars

Originally published as Review: Magic Moonlight starring Colin Firth and Emma Stone