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Magic in the Moonlight (12A)

Comedy, Romance

A romantic comedy about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle. Personal and professional complications ensue.


The critical consensus

Unapologetic mediocrity can be so refreshing when it’s served by a master.

***(*)(*)David Ehrlich, Little White Lies, 18/07/2014

Charming without being laugh-out-loud funny, Magic in the Moonlight seems more intent on casting its own spell than going for the jugular.

***(*)(*)Tom Shone, The Guardian, 25/07/2014

Unfortunately, this aesthetically sunny, romantically drizzly period comedy represents another middling effort from a former movie maestro.

***(*)(*)Emma Simmonds, The List, 15/09/2014

Will she end up with the nice, same-age millionaire who adores her, or the guy twice her age who spends most of the movie alternately patronising and insulting her? You don’t have to be clairvoyant to anticipate the answer, which is why a) Magic In The Moonlight leaks tension, and b) Allen’s movies are becoming increasingly creepy.

***(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 14/09/2014

A notch below Allen’s recent form but still an easy, breezy soufflé. Between the regular chuckles, Riviera scenery and the sparkling Stone, you won’t feel duped.

***(*)(*)Rob James, Total Film, 15/09/2014

Weightless, but not without its enchantments, this is Woody Allen coasting. But where better to coast than the loveliest coast of all?

***(*)(*)Ian Nathan, Empire Online, 15/09/2014

There is a touch of Pygmalion hidden away in Magic In The Moonlight, a good dash of PG Wodehouse and a scent of Noel Coward but it is all so thinly plotted and casually flung together that even Woody Allen fans might admit that this is little more than an amusing diversion between more substantial ventures.

***(*)(*)Caroline Jowett, Daily Express, 18/09/2014

Woody Allen’s 20s-set mystic mystery caper has elements of charm, but Colin Firth’s stuffy conjuror is not one of them, and the directorial magic is disappointingly lacking.

**(*)(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 18/09/2014

Magic in the Moonlight isn't ever going to be mistaken for one of Allen's masterpieces but in its own breezy way, it is perfectly enjoyable – and a film only he would or could have made.

***(*)(*)Geoffrey MacNab, The Independent, 18/09/2014

All the film has to offer are nice costumes and tedious pseudo-intellectual debates about the irrationality of love.

**(*)(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 20/09/2014

Colin Firth and Emma Stone deliver fun and romantic whimsy in Allen’s latest, but nothing memorable.

***(*)(*)Mark Kermode, The Observer, 21/09/2014

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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