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Stars:
Peter Capaldi,
Darren Boyd,
Steve Edge,
David Mitchell,
Robert Webb,
James Smith,
Jessica Stevenson,
Stephen Aintree,
Aladin,
James Bachman,
Ali Bongo,
Rosie Fellner,
Rasmus Hardiker,
Alexander Kirk,
Marek Larwood,
Alex MacQueen,
James Mellor,
Scott Penrose,
Tim Plester
Director:
Andrew O'Connor
Summary: Several years after a guillotine-related accident, a pair of feuding magicians are forced to work together in an attempt to win a magic competition.
MAGICIANS is the feature film debut of David Mitchell and Robert Webb, best known for their groundbreaking and hilarious television comedy PEEPSHOW. MAGICIANS also marks the film debut of PEEPSHOW's writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain. Harry (Mitchell) and Karl (Webb) are magicians who have become one of the most successful acts in the business, with the help of Harry's wife as the duo's assistant. After discovering an affair between Karl and his wife, Harry accidentally causes a guillotine-related incident that has grave consequences for his wife. Several years later, a struggling Harry decides to enter a magic competition with a large cash prize. He recruits his enthusiastic if untalented friend Linda as an assistant (Jessica Hynes - nee Stevenson, SPACED) and persuades Karl to join him in attempt to win the competition, forcing the pair to try to put aside their differences. In the wake of 2006's magic based dramas THE PRESTIGE and THE ILLUSIONIST, MAGICIANS offers a welcomingly comic look at the world of illusionism. As the film features the stars and writers of PEEPSHOW, much of the humour is the same, although it doesn't allow the audience to hear the main characters inner monologue, as is the case in PEEPSHOW. There is much to appeal to both fans of PEEPSHOW and people who haven't watched a single episode in this entertaining British comedy.