Released 1995
Stars Bridget Fonda, Russell Crowe, Jim Broadbent, D.W. Moffett, Paul Rodriguez
Directed by Clare Peploe

If ever there were two genres that don't seem to fit together, they're film noir and magic realism. The one grovels in gritty realism, the other dissolves into clouds of butterflies. Clare Peploe deserves credit for the uncompromising way in which she stage manages a head-on collision between them in "Rough Magic,'' an oddly enchanting fantasy that almost works.

The story, set in 1952, follows a magician's assistant named Myra (Bridget Fonda) as she flees from a Los Angeles murder scene and the arms of an arranged marriage. Her fiancee, a Howard Hughes type named Wyatt (D. W. Moffett) sends a private eye named Alex (Russell Crowe) after her, and then flies down himself. But by then she's fallen into the clutches of a quack named Doc Ansell (Jim Broadbent), who sells a constipation cure (not that it doesn't work). The Doc realizes she's the real thing. So he arranges for her to go on a solo mission: She crosses a lake and engages in rituals with ancient shaman women, drinks a secret potion, and finds that she possesses real magic (she also lays a blue egg).

The screenplay is curiously serious even in its most absurd moments; Bridget Fonda looks at times as if she thinks she may be in a comedy, but can't be sure. Neither can we. A whimsical fantasy may be the correct description.

Summary by Roger Ebert