Considering the quality other material Lance Burton has been involved with (his stage show and TV specials), it's astonishing that something like this could come from him. Mr. Burton clearly has connections - several other magicians appear in this film, and Louie Anderson too. It's shot in casinos and rich peoples' houses. One would expect Burton has "his people", who he collaborates with and help him refine his ideas. And yet, something has gone terribly wrong, because it's written badly, it's filmed badly, and it's edited badly. Nobody intervened at any point along the way, or if they did, Burton didn't listen.
The biggest issue is the overarching plot. Topit and his friends get a cheating syndicate kicked out of a casino, the syndicate kidnaps Topit's girlfriend, and Topit and his variety-arts friends stage a rescue, after which Topit gets to perform on a Vegas stage. Burton probably meant for this to be a hero's journey, but something like that requires the hero to be challenged by something, and the title character never is. He accomplishes everything he wants with ease.
The writing and editing is terrible on the scene level, too. Scenes are so bloated that you could cut an hour from this film and have it still be the same overall thing. There are moments of brilliance, including one very clever bit of payoff in the last third of the film, which is why I'm giving this a 2. But most of the jokes and bits don't land, and even that one clever payoff is set up far too aggressively.
Finally, the way the movie is filmed (cheap digital cameras, it looks like) isn't a dealbreaker for an independent film, but someone like Burton should have known enough to hire someone who knew what they were doing.
Unfortunately, this is a bad-bad film, not a good-bad. I really wanted to like it, because there are some people I deeply respect in it, but it just doesn't do enough right.
The biggest issue is the overarching plot. Topit and his friends get a cheating syndicate kicked out of a casino, the syndicate kidnaps Topit's girlfriend, and Topit and his variety-arts friends stage a rescue, after which Topit gets to perform on a Vegas stage. Burton probably meant for this to be a hero's journey, but something like that requires the hero to be challenged by something, and the title character never is. He accomplishes everything he wants with ease.
The writing and editing is terrible on the scene level, too. Scenes are so bloated that you could cut an hour from this film and have it still be the same overall thing. There are moments of brilliance, including one very clever bit of payoff in the last third of the film, which is why I'm giving this a 2. But most of the jokes and bits don't land, and even that one clever payoff is set up far too aggressively.
Finally, the way the movie is filmed (cheap digital cameras, it looks like) isn't a dealbreaker for an independent film, but someone like Burton should have known enough to hire someone who knew what they were doing.
Unfortunately, this is a bad-bad film, not a good-bad. I really wanted to like it, because there are some people I deeply respect in it, but it just doesn't do enough right.