Woody Allen's latest: a dalliance with the unseen

NOW that he's fast approaching 80, it's no longer realistic for Woody Allen to play the romantic lead in his own movies. He continues to churn out films at a rate of roughly one a year, but these days, he relies on younger surrogates to mouth his words. In Magic in the Moonlight, Allen's 44th feature film (and counting), Colin Firth steps into a role in which the director might once have cast himself.

As master magician Stanley Crawford, Firth plays a pompous snob with a caustic wit, an unshakable belief in rational thinking and a strong disdain for anything remotely spiritual. As a non-believer, he can spot phony people a mile away and takes great pleasure in putting them down.

In recent years Allen has set many of his films in Europe - perhaps because he relishes depicting the empty lives and idiosyncrasies of the privileged classes. Magic in the Moonlight is not one of his better films, however; it feels flimsy in parts and the narrative is a little forced.