In 1939, Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) dragged the shrouded body across the floor and dropped it into a shallow grave in the middle of the house. On his way out the door, he ignites the house. Soon after, he is on a bus that stops near a cafe. By chance, a dwarf walks by him and he turns to follow him. He arrives at a carnival and soon becomes a carny himself. There is Bruno the Strongman (Ron Perlmam), Clem (Willem Dafoe) who has a tent full of pickled oddities as well as the crazed geek who bites the heads off chickens, Zeena (Toni Collette) the Seer, Pete (David Strathairn) the mentalist, Molly (Rooney Mara) the electrical girl, and others. Stanton is soon having an affair with Zeena, learning mentalism from the frequently drunk Pete, and pursuing Molly. Before long, he has mastered mentalism and runs away with Molly to start an act.
Two years later, they are having considerable success as a mentalist act. It is then that Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) attends the show to test his talents. He proves sufficiently impressive that she provides her card and makes richer marks available. Of course, her clients are rich and powerful and won't take kindly to him if he is shown to be a fraud. The payoff is great but so is the risk.
Throughout the movie, Stanton is warned against carrying his mentalism shtick too far, against crossing lines, or starting to believe your own lies. Despite the wise counsel from every carny he has met, he pushes forward to the big score.
Here is a movie about a bad man who does bad things and has a bad outcome. Karma. Though well-made and excellently acted, it is hard to enjoy watching an unsympathetic character on the make. Sure, his final mark deserves to be cheated, but he's putting Molly in the crosshairs.
Of all the Giullermo del Toro films, this one has the fewest bizarre monsters. In fact, other than the pickled oddities in Clem's collection, all the monsters are human. Worse, this is a two and a half hour slog that reaches the conclusion that has been telegraphed from the start.
Hard pass.
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