The Illusionist Review in NRO

I’m in NRO this morning with a review of this week’s Edward Norton/Paul Giamatti magician-period thriller, The Illusionist. Here’s a little bit of sleight of hand to get you going:

The Illusionist has some charm to it, but it is the sort of charm usually reserved for the neighborhood eight-year-olds who dress up and put on magic shows at some indulgent parents’ home. It’s intermittently watchable, in its own clunky way, and certainly the participants are all trying very hard. It’s difficult, though, to be enthusiastic about such lackluster results when the players aren’t local kids, but seven-figure Hollywood talent who demand ten bucks plus parking and a sitter. Better to have watched the kids at the house down the street than shelled out for the movie — at least their dumb tricks have the virtue of being cute.

Read the whole thing at National Review Online.