Rough Magic

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Cast

Bridget Fonda
as Myra Shumway

Russell Crowe
as Alex Ross

Jim Broadbent
as Doc Ansell

D.W. Moffett
as Cliff Wyatt

Paul Rodriguez
as Diego

Euva Anderson
as Diego's Wife/Tojola

Kenneth Mars
as Magician

Andy Romano
as Clayton

Richard Schiff
as Wiggins

Christopher Otto
as Mechanic

Michael Ensign
as Powerbroker

Thomas Rosales Jr.
as Tough

Gabriel Pingarron
as Telegraph Man

Santos Morales
as Policeman

Richard Sassin
as Delivery Boy

Rene Pereyra
as Policeman

Gregory Avellone
as Burly Usher

Mark del Castillo Morante
as Clayton's Assistant

Chris Otto
as Mechanic

José Escandón
as Waiter

Ana Cristina Vasquez
as Maid

Barkley
as `Dog'

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Critic Reviews for Rough Magic

Audience Reviews for Rough Magic

• Mar 15, 2011

  What an oddball of a movie! Set during the early '60s but plays more like a detective story from the '40s, at least during the first half. Bridget Fonda is not an outstanding actress nor will she win a beauty pageant, but she's always held some inexplicable allure with me - Queen of the Plain Janes in a way. She does look her best as magician's assistant Myra who flees to Mexico with photographic evidence of her fiancee Senator Wyatt accidentally shooting her mentor. On her trail is P.I.-for-hire Ross, played by Russell Crowe still getting his feet wet in Hollywood. There is some great snappy banter between the two and they exude a nice sexual tension, and this section is the best part of the movie. 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 <i>Rough Magic</i> - 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 <i>Rough Magic</i>.
  Doctor S Super Reviewer
• Feb 18, 2007

  This very strange brew of <i>film noir,</i> magic realism, and screwball adventure is an entetaining mess.
  Dean M Super Reviewer

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