Now You See Me (2013) ★★☆☆☆

★★☆☆☆ Meh!

An endlessly frustrating and overlong heist film with paper thin characters. The picture relies on the innumerable cast members’ signature nuances instead of crafting credible backstories to develop the narrative. You just never truly care for the characters or their motives.

The premise suggests that, in theory, this should be a redeemable, elaborate piece of entertainment but countless nonsensical missteps for every original sequence squander any potential.

Cut about 30 mins and this just might be a mindless slice of good lookin’ big budget fun, but no such luck either. The biggest ‘misdirection’ of all, a stellar cast to distract you from the lack of substance with tons of unnecessary CGI and pretentiously sweeping camera moves. Even the interesting plot twist serves as the final nail on repeated viewings because it’s just so darned ridiculous. I hear there’s a sequel. Facepalm.