Death Defying Acts
(2007)
This account of Houdini’s last days takes as its starting point
his quest to debunk mystics due to an obsession with his departed mother. Or,
rather, its starting point is Catherine Zeta-Jones and daughter Saoirise
Ronan’s psychic stage act, which leads them to cross the path of Houdini (Guy
Pearce).
From whence romance between Zeta-Jones and Pearce blossoms. None of
which is very involving. Disappointingly lightweight, given it finds
inspiration in the great showman, the (invented) love story doesn’t ignite and
It’s left to reliable Timothy Spall to curmudgeon it from the sidelines.
All
the more dismaying that this comes from the pen of Tony Grisoni, who dazzled
not long after this with his screenplays for the Red Riding Trilogy.
**1/2
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