Magicians - Better if you’re expecting a ‘made-for-TV’ type movie

'Four Weddings and a Funeral.' The Inbetweeners Movie.  Notting Hill.  Shaun of the Dead.' All well-received British comedy films.  Sadly, ‘Magicians’ will never really be mentioned alongside those greats.  The short reason: it isn’t as good, or as clever as any of them.  However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a certain kind of charm.

Yes, it’s the ‘Peep Show’ film.  Only it’s not.  It just has the two main stars from the (hilarious) cult TV show, i.e David Mitchell and Robert Webb in the lead roles.  And, not only content with starring the two 'Peep Show' stalwarts, 'Magicians' is also written by the team behind the TV show.  Many may have thought, how could it fail?  But it does.  Just.

Despite Mitchell and Webb basically playing the same characters from 'Peep Show,' but with different names, 'Magicians' falls short on laugh out loud moments.  And that might come as a surprise as it’s a relatively short movie.  You also get a lot of other well-known comedy faces all popping up along the way.  Some are used to their potential, while others don’t come close.  In fact... at times it does seem like 'Magicians' feels like it's almost a 'who's who' of 'Peep Show' faces, as pretty much every actor who's played some sort of 'guest role' in the TV show pops up here or there.

I’ve seen a lot of hate online for this film and, although I can see where it comes from, I don’t completely share their sentiment.  It’s not THAT bad.  Yes, it doesn’t come anywhere close to the wit and cleverness of 'Peep Show' and falls even further afield from what it could achieve, based on the talent linked with the film.

What you get is an adult comedy which has a few laughs along the way and is a bit predictable.  If you’ve got nothing else to watch and this happens to be on the telly (and you’re a fan of Mitchell and Webb) then give it a go.  It’s the sort of film you’ll appreciate more if you haven’t had to pay to watch it.

Keep your expectations low and you should get more out of it.  The second time I watched it (leaving a fair few years in between viewings!) I found it still had a certain charm (based on the lead two actors bringing their natural chemistry to the proceedings).  It's the sort of film you can have on in the background while you do something else and still enjoy.  There's always a market for films that are good even when you don't have to - technically - watch 100%.

6/10 May just keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights