Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell face off in 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' which looks like a truly silly comedy about Vegas magicians battling for supremacy.

Credit: Warner Bros

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I have a feeling 2013 is going to be a very good year for Jim Carrey fans.

I may not love everything Carrey's ever done, but I remain convinced that he is one of the wildest, most exciting talents working in film right now.  When he connects with a project, the results are intoxicating, and if everything I've seen and read turns out to be correct, both "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" and "Kick-Ass 2" are going to turn out to be great examples of what he can do with the right script.

Don Scardino, the director of this film, started as an actor in the '60s, eventually jumping behind the camera for some of the same soaps he acted on, and over the years, he's worked on shows like "The Days and Nights Of Molly Dodd," "Homicide: Life On The Street," "Sports Night," "The West Wing," "Law & Order," and "30 Rock," now ending up at the helm of what looks like one of the highest-profile studio comedies of next year.  After all, you've got Steve Carrell, Alan Arkin, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, and Carrey, all sending up the extremes of Vegas magic.

What's great about the premise of this one is that even if you love magic and take it totally seriously, you have to admit that it's ripe for parody.  There is a self-seriousness and a theatricality to magic that you can't hep but laugh at, and it doesn't matter if you're talking about the David Copperfield/Siegfried & Roy end of the business or the Criss Angel/David Blaine end of things.  They are both hilarious in their own way, and it looks like the script by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Chad Kultgen will take full advantage of all of it.

It also looks like another great scene-stealing supporting role for the incomparable Alan Arkin, and with an ensemble that also includes Gillian Jacobs, Jay Mohr, Brad Garrett, James Gandolfini, and even David Copperfield himself in what may be his most important film role since "Terror Train," this one could be heaps of fun.




We'll find out when "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" appears miraculously on March 15, 2013.

Drew McWeeny
Film Editor

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A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.