Magic in the Moonlight

A neurotic older man falls for an alluring younger woman. They playfully banter with a jazzy score serenading them in the background. If that sounds familiar, it’s because, Magic in the Moonlight is this year’s annual Woody Allen project.

The venerable filmmaker deals with some familiar themes in this modestly charming romantic comedy about the power of illusion and its influence on relationships. Yet despite some amusing moments, the material winds up feeling overall more recycled than fresh.

Taking place on the French Riviera during the opulence of the 1920s, the film follows Stanley (Colin Firth), a misanthropic English magician whose arrogance and cynicism has kept his roster of friends small.

That lack of sympathy leads a colleague (Simon McBurney) to enlist Stanley’s help with his ruse to unmask the fraudulence of Sophie (Emma Stone), a young clairvoyant whose revelations have drawn an unhealthy level of trust from a grieving widow (Jacki Weaver) and her socially awkward son (Hamish Linklater).

Stanley assumes a different identity upon meeting Sophie, and despite his attempts to prove her a charlatan, later finds his skepticism fading for both personal and professional reasons.

Allen’s career has been notoriously uneven, and Magic in the Moonlight is destined to be considered among his slighter efforts. The primary storyline feels like fodder that might have been a subplot from another film.

Yet his dialogue is as sharp as ever, as Allen offers a lighthearted jab at everything from flamboyant stage antics to stuffy 1920s British aristocracy to the power of social and spiritual persuasion.

As usual, he also gets the most from his actors, especially Firth in the type of role Allen himself would have played in his younger days, when the story would have been set in New York. Stone has plenty of sassy appeal, and the supporting cast includes charming turns from veterans such as McBurney, Weaver, and Eileen Atkins as Stanley’s ailing aunt.

Yet too often those characters are funneled into a screenplay that’s long on sardonic whimsy but short on surprises. Between Stanley’s inevitable comeuppance, his obvious flirtations with Sophie, and a few twists in between, it follows a predictable pattern.

In this case, Allen doesn’t employ enough narrative dexterity to allow his illusory ambitions to fool audiences.

Rated PG-13, 97 minutes.