In an interview back in the late 1990s Woody Allen described himself as "thin but fun," and the exact same thing could be said about many of his movies — doubly so for his latest film "Magic in the Moonlight." This pleasant, diverting film is a sweet hit to the senses before it melts away in your memory like cotton candy. Poof! It's gone. "Gee, that was nice," you might say, "but let's move on" — that's what "Magic in the Moonlight" is like.
On the other hand, once we consider the particular skills required to produce a genuinely satisfying stick of cotton candy, you'll see that "thin and fun" is not so easy. Allen has honed and polished this style over the course of four decades until it gleams like old silver — or, yes, moonlight. At this point, he has no rivals. The auteurs can do thick and dense, or elaborate and heavy, but who can duplicate Allen's light-as-air touch, his gentle, supercilious humor and nonintrusive approach? All that and more can be savored in "Magic."
As usual, Allen has assembled a cast that includes a jaded middle-aged guy (Colin Firth) who falls for an attractive, much-younger woman (Emma Stone). For years Allen himself played the former, but he now seems content to sit back and let other guys do the job: generating the illusion that gorgeous babes will somehow be snapped up by old, balding guys in glasses.