|
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Ed Lauter
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Magic |
|---|
One year ago, Corky Withers was a talented magician bombing with nightclub audiences because he lacked verve. Now he is a smash hit, having added ventriloquism to his act with his nasty, wisecracking dummy, Fats. His agent, Ben Greene, lands him a t.v. pilot. But Corky is so adamant in refusing the required medical, that he bolts to a quiet Catskills resort to hide out, blaming "fear of success." His high school crush, Peggy Ann Snow, runs the place, and rents him a cabin on the lake. She is in an unhappy marriage, and her husband is away on a business trip. She and Corky click, and engage in sex. But when he fumbles performing a card trick for her, she sees a scary flash of his furious frustration.
Dummy Fats is jealous. Corky is arguing with him in the cabin when he sees surprise visitor Ben staring from the open doorway. Recongnizing that Fats is all too real to Corky, Ben recommends psychiatric help. Corky scoffs. Ben challenges him to make Fats shut up for five minutes. Corky fails. As Ben is sadly leaving, Fats goads Corky into knocking him out and sinking him into the lake.
Peg's husband Duke, suspicious both of infidelity and of foul play in the death of the dead man washed up on shore, searches Corky's cabin and finds Ben's I.D. Fats knifes him. Corky tells Peg that Duke is just out hunting, and asks her to leave with him before he returns. Fats chimes in to show her Corky's eerie side again, telling her that Corky plays tricks to get foolish bimbos to believe their minds connect with his. Feeling used and laughed at, she runs crying from him. Fats takes control of Corky as if their roles are reversed, ordering him to smile, spin, touch the ceiling...and get a knife and kiss the girl goodbye. She is lying on her bed when she hears footsteps outside her door. The Fats side of his Corky's mind tries to charm her into opening the door. Can the Corky side stop him?
--vjm, Resident Scholar
|
| Analysis of Magic |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Struggle with
- eccentricity
Fantasy/Magic?
Yes
Brain/Body not working?
- mental illness
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- mage/magician
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- mentally ill
Hair color?
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Unclothed?
- Chest
Events of movie makes character more...
- aggressive
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- red
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn straight
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- An "It".
Has magical powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist:
- mind control
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- concerned
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- sex under blankets
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
Is this movie based on a
- book
|
| Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking |
|---|
| Donnie Darko
starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore, Katharine Ross
|
| No End
starring Grazyna Szapolowska, Aleksander Bardini, Jerzy Radziwilowicz
|
| Drop Dead Fred
starring Phoebe Cates, Rik Mayall, Carrie Fisher
|
| Just Like Heaven
starring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo
|
| Down in the Valley
starring Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, Not the David Morse, Rory Culkin, Bruce Dern
|
|
Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 vjm
SCHOLARS:
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
