Woody Allen's 2014 film, "Magic In The Moonlight"

[Scottie]

Magic In The Moonlight is the newest film by comedian Woody Allen. It will be his 46th directed film of all time. The film is currently set to open in select theaters beginning on July 25, 2014 via Sony Pictures Classics' distribution.

The film is purportedly a period romantic comedy, taking place on the French Riviera in the 1920s. According to Entertainment Weekly, the film follows an Englishman (Colin Firth) who sets out to expose a phony mystic (Emma Stone) and ends up falling for her in the process.

Marcia Gay Harden, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jacki Weaver, are just a few of the many stars that have been reported to star in this film.

[MikeScott]

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT - Official Trailer (2014) [HD] Emma Stone, Colin Firth - YouTube

Looks charming. But it has Emma Stone so what do you expect?

[Scottie]

Thanks for the trailer.

It reminds me a lot of Scoop with elements of Midnight in Paris.

[MikeScott]

I loved Scoop. Thought it was better than Paris.

[Cinemach]

I like Scoop quite a bit too...I find it quite funny. Definitely on the lesser side of his recent best, but certainly underrated.

As for Magic in the Moonlight, I know this falls in the "other" slot of 'every-other' Woody Allen film, but there's no way I'm not going to at least enjoy it on some level: Scott Fitzgerald can practically be credited as a consultant.

[CHEЯNOБLY!]

Emma Stone seems like a perfect Woody Allen muse. I hope for a ScarJo-type run of collaborations.

I didn't mind Scoop...it had its moments. Idk though, judging from the trailers I think this might be a more serious toned Allen film. Not a Scoop, but not quite a Match Point.

[Kevin Holly]

Allen is a diamond!!

Consider this:

[Show spoiler]Steven Spielberg is known as a fairly prolific filmmaker. Since 1964, he has directed 31 films, most of which were based on other sources, and a half dozen or so of which he wrote himelf, plus writing a few more. Allen has directed 43 films in the same time period, including one per year since 1982, all of which we wrote himself.

Conider this:

[Show spoiler]Michael Caine and Jack Nicholson are known as the only people to have an Academy Award nomination in each of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Well, Woody Allen now has an Academy Award nomination in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.

Allen is a beast.

[AaronJ]

This looks excellent. And oh, Emma -- you siren, you.

[MikeScott]

To be honest a lot of his films that received lesser reviews (Scoop, Melinda & Melinda, Whatever Works) were, IMO, way more enjoyable than his newer acclaimed stuff (Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine, Vicky Cristina Barcelona). Though I've enjoyed all of his recent stuff at least to some extent. Match Point is the best of the ones he's done in "recent" years.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by MikeScott

To be honest a lot of his films that received lesser reviews (Scoop, Melinda & Melinda, Whatever Works) were, IMO, way more enjoyable than his newer acclaimed stuff (Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine, Vicky Cristina Barcelona). Though I've enjoyed all of his recent stuff at least to some extent. Match Point is the best of the ones he's done in "recent" years.

I don't agree that "Match Point" is his best recent film, but it's a CRIMINALLY underrated film. How anyone could dislike it is beyond me.

[burner xxx]

I like the idea of the movie but Colin Firth (51) and Emma Stone (25)? I know Woody likes younger ladies but that seems like quite an age gap even in Hollywood standards.

[CHEЯNOБLY!]

Originally Posted by burner xxx

I like the idea of the movie but Colin Firth (51) and Emma Stone (25)? I know Woody likes younger ladies but that seems like quite an age gap even in Hollywood standards.

I guess you never saw Whatever Works or Manhattan.

[format916]

i think whoever cut the blue jasmine trailer did this one as well. both didnt have spectacular trailers...so will just have to wait for this one.

[burner xxx]

Originally Posted by CHEЯNOБLY!

I guess you never saw Whatever Works or Manhattan.

I'm a pretty big Larry David fan so I actually have watched that one. I still had to point it out.

For what the diamond was accused of he deserves the scrutiny with all the old men/young women movies

[MikeScott]

For his next movie he should mix it up a bit and have an older woman and a younger man relationship.

[Holmes]

Ultra-prolific writer and director Woody Allen, creator of many of the finest American comedies and dramas of the last four decades, creates perhaps the most dire film of his oeuvre with Magic in the Moonlight, a purported comic romance devoid of charm, excitement, humor, and interest. Colin Firth plays Stanley, a veteran magician and avowed cynic spirited by an old friend to the south of France to help reveal youthful psychic Sophie (Emma Stone) as a fraud. She has a powerful and rich family under her spell, providing them with supernatural advice regarding financial decisions and claiming to contact their deceased patriarch. Stanley is eager to deduce her secrets and declare her a con artist posing as a mystic, but finds it harder than expected as he, too, becomes entranced.

This is a fine concept, evocative of Houdini and his disdain for spiritualists, with many intriguing components (magic! romance! France!), yet the resulting film has no idea how to utilize it as it blunders and trips from the bland start to the profoundly misguided finish line. More than ever before, there is a sense Allen filmed the first draft of his script. The few ideas are stretched far too thin, scenes go in circles, and characters constantly refer to and explain the thesis (how to blend a pragmatic, even distrustful worldview with a bit of earnest belief in magic and romance) in a way so didactic and mechanical as to be insulting. And the Firth/Stone pairing is a hideous miscalculation. Their nonexistent chemistry never moves the needle, and he is downright creepy as he lusts after a co-star who can still play a high-school student. He truly registers as a type of horny father figure rather than a viable bedroom match. The fact Firth plays a fairly vile boor of a man who more than once refers to himself as a genius does not help, particularly as the fetching Stone's thinly developed Sophie fawns over him and sacrifices more and more of herself to win him over as he rolls his eyes and berates her with cruel faux-wit. (Though portrayed as a sap rendered a tad delusional by his wealthy upbringing, the Hamish Linklater character who functions as the romantic rival is much more charismatic.) It is borderline revolting, and perhaps a tad fascinating, how truly unconvincing this central love story is. To be honest, to even call is a love story is groan-inducing.

D

[Hazel Motes]

From the synopsis and trailer I really had low expectations for this. Banal is a word I would use to describe it. And tedious. Now with your review, my expectations have sunk even lower. English country side period pieces are maybe my most despised film sub genre.

At this point, if the film isn't as bad as Cassandra's Dream(the worst film of Allen's career imo) I might consider it a minor success.

[sodinishu]

It reminds me a lot of Scoop with elements of Midnight in Paris.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by sodinishu

It reminds me a lot of Scoop with elements of Midnight in Paris.

I agree and being that I loved both of those, I think I will enjoy this one.

[MikeScott]

Even the reviews are mixed I believe I'll enjoy this too. Seems fun.