Movie review: Magic in the Moonlight

Reviewed by Gerti

I have ignored Woody Allen movies over the last few years, ever since the scandal about his “daughter” came out, and the only reason I was interested in this film was because it stars the inimitable Colin Firth. But I have to admit, all the things that thrilled me decades ago about Woody Allen’s films are still evident here – the clever dialogue, the lovely sets, the time-specific costumes. “Magic in the Moonlight” has a magical quality, and I was like a kid in a candy store while ogling the beautiful cars, the stunning chateaus, and most of all, delightful Colin Firth, even while clad in ridiculous suit jacket/ vest/ tie combinations.

In this film set in the 1920s, Firth plays Stanley Crawford, who opens the movie with his act as an oriental magician. We are first astounded at his skills on the Berlin stage, and then an old boyhood friend of his arrives at his dressing room with an interesting proposition – help him debunk a young psychic who is bamboozling some friends. Crawford is unable to resist, since like the real-world magician Houdini, he’s made it his life’s work to show up fraudulent spiritualists who claim to talk to the dead.

So he joins his pal on the French Riviera to meet psychic seductress Sophie Baker, played here by the somewhat miscast Emma Stone. She immediately gets impressions that he has been to China, but Crawford discounts them. In fact, he is so much of a cynic, that she has to work for weeks at convincing him that her talents are real, and of course in that time they fall in love. Crawford gamely holds a press conference to tell the world she is a real psychic anyway, although she is promised to the son of the wealthy woman she is currently doing readings for. Awash with brilliant writing, Firth’s marriage proposal here will remind many Jane Austen fans of his clumsy attempt at proposing in “Pride and Prejudice”, the production that made the actor a household name. And the plot twist in all this film will come as a surprise to most viewers.

Still, my head is spinning as though I’ve had too much champagne after watching this bubbly comedy. The witty repartee will remind people of George Bernard Shaw’s plays, or even Noel Coward. Firth is perfect for the part, and in his role here he reminds me once again of how talented a creature he is. He takes a suit of clothes that would be absolutely laughable hanging on the racks at Goodwill and turns it into the height of British style. He is a gentleman through and through, but his excellence only serves to highlight Stone’s awkwardness in her role, but I can well imagine it’s difficult to play the romantic partner of a man twice her age. The other actors are spot-on in their depictions, even to the off-tune, stomach-churning singing that accompanies some ukulele playing. This movie is a charmer, and some of the witty lines are worth remembering. I join in with movie critic Rex Reed who declares on the cover, “I loved it madly.” It is well worth watching if you’re a Firth fan.