Rough Magic (1995)
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 7
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 3
liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 1,515
My Rating
Movie Info
Director Clare Peploe (wife of Bernardo Bertolucci) adapted this blend of noir mystery and magical realism from the story Miss Shumway Waves a Wand by James Hadley Chase. Bridget Fonda stars as Myra Shumway, an apprentice to a magician (Kenneth Mars) in 1952 Los Angeles. Myra is unhappily engaged to Cliff Wyatt (D.W. Moffett), a sleazy, Howard Hughes-like uranium heir who wants to run for president. After her fiancée accidentally kills her boss, Myra flees to Mexico in search of a renowned
May 30, 1997 Wide
Aug 6, 2002
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast
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Bridget Fonda
Myra Shumway -
Russell Crowe
Alex Ross -
Jim Broadbent
Doc Ansell -
D.W. Moffett
Cliff Wyatt -
Paul Rodriguez
Diego -
Euva Anderson
Tojola Diego's Wife -
Michael Ensign
Powerbroker -
Santos Morales
Policeman -
Christopher Otto
Mechanic -
Thomas Rosales Jr.
Tough -
Rene Pereyra
Policeman -
Richard Sassin
Delivery Boy -
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Rough Magic Trailer & Photos
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (1) | Rotten (6) | DVD (2)
Rough going.
Top CriticWild and zany film that mixes comedy with the magic realism of Latin American novels.
Audience Reviews for Rough Magic
Super Reviewer
Then we meet Doc Ansell, amusingly played by Jim Broadbent, who wants to enlist Myra to acquire the secret formula to an elixir with magical properties from a reclusive woman who chants on a mountainside, and things get really goofy. A man turns into a sausage, a woman lays an egg that hatches a spider, a guy instantly drops dead, a dog speaks, people levitate, and a woman coughs up her heart. I have no idea what director Clare Peploe's grand design was for Rough Magic - many of these elements are fun but so bizarre it's hard to discern the function to the form.
This movie has gotten raked over the coals here on Flixster, and there is some justification, but it certainly is more entertaining than most bombs. Some great dialogue and chemistry between the leads buoy the original yet crazy developments; you could do a lot worse on a rainy day than by turning on Rough Magic.
Super Reviewer
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