The Illusionist

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The Illusionist ★★½ 2006 (PG-13)

Eisenheim (Norton) is a wildly popular magician in 1900 Vienna where he is reunited with his childhood love, the aristocratic Sophie (Biel). She's now engaged to suspicious Crown Prince Leopold (Sewell) who sics police chief Inspector Uhl (Giamatti) on Eisenheim in an effort to debunk his illusions. You won't find anyone pulling doves out of their sleeves to the tune of “Final Countdown” in Burger's icy turn of the century romance, but there's still a lot to like, particularly the always-intriguing Norton and Giamatti. Unfortunately, no illusion can make the audience believe there's any spark between Eisenheim and Sophie, which is mostly the fault of the lovely, though vacant, Ms. Biel. 110m/C DVD . US Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Paul Giamatti, Eddie Marsan, Aaron Johnson; D: Neil Burger; W: Neil Burger; C: Dick Pope; M: Philip Glass.

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