"THE ILLUSIONIST" — ** — Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel; rated PG-13 (violence, sex, profanity).
It's perhaps fitting, if not ironic, that "The Illusionist" is similar to stage magic. Much of this turn-of-the-20th-century romantic fantasy is a smoke-and-mirrors act.
While it has handsome production values and a talented cast, this is the type of shallow, vapid movie that tricks you into thinking it's better cinema than it actually is.
Among other things, it features some of the worst, affected accents in recent memory. That's a crippling blow for a film that already has a serious credibility problem.
The title character is Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a European magician who's still in love with his childhood sweetheart, Sophie (Jessica Biel), despite parting ways years earlier.
When they're reunited he discovers that she's engaged to the tyrannical Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), an aristocrat who's bound and determined to find out how Eisenheim's magic works.
He's assigned Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) to dig up dirt on Eisenheim, who, in turn, is using his stage act to discredit and humiliate the crown prince.
Screenwriter/director Neil Burger may have fleshed out the source material, Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," but he can't really make us care about any of these self-involved, unappealing characters.
Also, miscasting abounds. The bug-eyed Sewell ("Tristan & Isolde") is laughably awful as the villain. And despite the obvious age difference between the two actors, Biel's character is apparently supposed to be the same age as Norton's.
However, it isn't Biel's unconvincing Viennese accent that sticks out here. It's the one adopted by Norton, whose Austrian-by-way-of-England accent sounds so ridiculous that you'd think he was performing in a broad comedy instead of a romantic drama.
"The Illusionist" is rated PG-13 for violence (including gunplay and stage violence), a brief sex scene and scattered profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word). Running time: 110 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com