The Illusionist
Yari Film Group Releasing | Release Date: August 18, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A lush piece of romanticism. Read full review
100
New York PostLou Lumenick
Deserved an end-of-the-year prestige release, is a true work of art in a marketplace filled with velvet paintings. It's positively magical, the reason we loved movies in the first place. Read full review
90
Village VoiceBill Gallo
Beautifully acted and handsomely mounted, this gorgeous period piece is an intelligent and intriguing exploration of "the dark arts" -- less dependent on mere hocus-pocus than on the convincing journey of the soul undertaken by its hero. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The less said about the twists and turns The Illusionist takes, the better. Suffice to say, Eisenheim's masterful deceptions do not stop when he exits the stage. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The Illusionist looks rigorously styled and measured, and every one of Norton's postures feels chosen. Yet the interesting actor has chosen so thoughtfully that we're riveted. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJames Greenberg
Outstanding production values and mysterious subject matter give the film a surprisingly opulent feel for an independent Sundance entry. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
By the end, the canniest viewers may not be fooled, but--and you can believe this--they may be mesmerized. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
This entertaining movie is content to be something a bit more modest: a pungent period folk tale that teases you until the very end. Read full review
80
SlateDana Stevens
It's an exquisitely crafted period picture that keeps promising more and more as it goes along--smarter ideas, richer themes, spookier plot twists--and keeps delivering on every promise, right up until the rug-pulling and overly hasty final sequence. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The ending dispels a lot of the magic, but the silent-movie palette is gorgeous, and the film is worth seeing for the inspired hamming of Paul Giamatti as Vienna's chief inspector, whose plummy tones made me sure I could hear the ghost of James Mason cackling. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
What Burger and his colleagues have done is to entrance us with a richly acted, beautifully produced story. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Edward Norton is at his best here, chalking up another boundary-stretching performance this year in the wake of the unfairly overlooked "Down in the Valley." Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
An infectious mix of romance, mystery, and magic. Read full review
75
PremiereJared Shimizu
A visual delight as well as an satisfying period drama. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
One of the strengths of The Illusionist: Everyone in it actually appears to be acting in the same era. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The Illusionist casts an exquisitely bewitching spell with its dreamy atmosphere and pervasive sense of suspense. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A rich and elegant film, full of sly, devious characters with complicated motives. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
This flight of fancy stays aloft on the power of its acting and its atmosphere. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Illusionist is like an overupholstered wing chair in the corner of a men's club -- you settle in only to be startled by how ridiculously comfy you are. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This handsome, elegant and restrained fable about love, artifice and power in fin de siecle Vienna is lavishly imagined and yet oddly airless. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A bizarre story of intrigue, magic and murder in turn-of-the-century Vienna casts a considerable spell in The Illusionist. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
It's important to keep in mind that little in The Illusionist is quite what it seems. That goes for the movie itself, fashioned from smoke, mirrors and, fortunately, Mr. Norton's magical performance.
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Sewell and Giamatti ham it up as the imperious pretender to the throne and his ambitious but conflicted minion in this uncheesy but entertainingly tricky mystery. There's more heat between the two of them than between the sappy lovers. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
So beautiful to look at that it practically feels like a drug. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The results are reasonably clever and impeccably executed, but one of these days, Burger is going to have to pull more from his hat than just the rabbit. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
An overly stately affair that often substitutes production values for imagination. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The movie also is designed to be an actor's showcase for Norton and Giamatti, two of the best movie actors of their generation. Each has his moments of fire, but some element is missing from the script that would make this duel of the titans riveting. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Eisenheim's storybook romance with aristocrat Sophie (Jessica Biel), the childhood sweetheart now expected to become Leopold's princess, is the most compelling thing about a film that should dazzle the eye as much as stir the heart. It does not dazzle. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The picture feels like an entertaining short story, competently executed at undue length, and that's its origin. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly Richards
It's not on a gasp-inducing making-the-Statue-Of-Liberty-disappear level, but with its opulent presentation and confident storytelling, The Illusionist has the power to keep an audience rapt like a good old-fashioned card trick. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The Illusionist might trick some moviegoers into thinking it's clever, deft, old-fashioned fun. But I urge those folks to stay home with a real classic romantic thriller on DVD or cable to remember the difference. This film doesn't even manage to breathe old life into the forms it apes. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Rather than taking viewers on a twisty, provocative journey through a mazelike meditation on appearance and reality, The Illusionist finally just sits there, looking like a very well-produced pilot for PBS's "Mystery!" series. It's a sophisticated snooze. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
For a film meant to float on a gossamer veil of mystery, The Illusionist falls -- make that flops -- with quite the heavy thud. It's an intended piece of magic that plays like a ponderous slab of melodrama, sleight of hand gone ham-handed. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The Illusionist is dogged by an inert, stale aura that overcomes everything and everyone in the movie. Read full review
40
Film ThreatJeremy Mathews
While it might have made a good short, as a feature film The Illusionist comes across like a magician whose tricks are transparent. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
The movie is leaden and self-serious, with an unusually hollow performance from Norton, who's not for a moment convincing as a man of raging passion. Far better is Paul Giamatti. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The film's moody, dark palette and soft, inchoate backgrounds tend to lull the senses rather than actively engage the viewer. The magic practiced by this illusionist does not extend to the screen. Read full review
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