MOVIE OF THE WEEK (11/14/25): NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON'T

CAST: Jesse Eisenberg | Isla Fisher | Dave Franco | Woody Harrelson | Lizzie Caplan | Rosamund Pike | Dominic Sessa | Arianna Greenblatt | Justice Smith | Morgan Freeman | 

WRITER:

DIRECTOR: Ruben Fleischer

THE STORY: Picking up a decade after 2016’s Now You See Me 2, NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T finds the audience introduced the famed Four Horsemen, a group of magicians best known for using their tricks to rob from the rich and give to the poor. But, given the events of their last heist, the group has seemingly disbanded and gone underground. 

 

That’s why when Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley (Isla Fisher), Merritt (Woody Harrleson) and Jack (Dave Franco) reunite for a special one night only performance, it catches the attention of fans ... And the actual horsemen themselves. You see, not all is as it seems and a new trio of magicians – and special effects man Charlie (Justice Smith), pickpocket extraordinaire June (Ariana Greenblatt) and group leader Bosco (Dominic Sessa) – are looking to make a name for themselves. Thus, when Atlas comes looking to recruit the young trio after they all receive tarot cards calling them for a new mission, things begin to get set in motion for the potential grandest heist of them all. 

 

All they have to do is make sure Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike) doesn’t stop them from putting a halt to their show permanently ...

 

THE REVIEW: Ten years is a long time to take a break between films for any franchise save for perhaps The Avengers or Star Wars. Fortunately, NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T is an entertaining jaunt that doesn’t suffer from cinematic hangover ... For now. 

 

As anyone who’s watched the first two films – or pretty much any action movie made since 1984 – can tell you, you have to turn a large part of your brain off when watching films like NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T. However, the film does a good job at making moments that feel ludicrous seemingly realistic by explaining them in a simple manner, utilizing both the idea of slight of hand and distraction to keep its reveals as plausible as possible. The film succeeds in doing so more often than not, which makes it more enjoyable than one would likely expect.

 

That being said, the film ends in a manner that screams “get ready for another sequel,” a fact that might be met with more of a “meh” than a “yay.” Unlike the Fast & Furious film series, which packs an inherent level of star power and has firmly established itself as a series now with an end in sight, NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T may be asking a lot of fans to assume it has the juice to pump out more sequels. What should have been a victory lap attempts instead to just be the pace car before starting the next race. Problem is, NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T may not have the gas to go the extra mile to go the distance.

RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):