Illusions, Michael...

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 2013)

Since this has come out, exactly nine thousand and fifteen comedians and syndicated critics have summed this movie up in one hack joke that reads, "The only thing magic about 'Now You See Me' is it made my time and money disappear' but, despite how lame that joke is, the movie is fairly entertaining.
The story is fun (it's about magicians stealing money, enough said!) and the characters are quirky and interesting. The cast, despite being maybe too big, is fantastic in their roles. Special mention MUST be made for Mark Ruffalo who stole the film as the obsessed cop trying to stop the magician thieves. It's already been scientifically proved (citation needed) that Ruffalo is an amazing actor but he never stops giving commanding performances that grabs your attention.
The only drawbacks I had with the film is that the movie seemed like a "For Boys Only" film as the female characters portrayed by Isla Fisher and Mélanie Laurent felt like they could have been more but were resigned to being romantic (or former romantic) potentials for the male characters. The film also weakly establishes some plot points that, sadly, go almost completely unresolved near the end (but there's a sequel coming, so that might help) and, finally, where was G.O.B. Bluth in all this?!?