Pop Culture Happy Hour - Now You See Me: Now You Don't

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

In Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, the magical Four Horsemen – played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher – reunite after almost 10 years to fight a cruel diamond heiress played by Rosamund Pike. You’ve got twists and turns, tricks galore, mysterious benefactors… and, just like in the Fast & Furious movies, a fair bit of talk about family.To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In the Now You See Me movies, a mysterious team of underground magicians pulls off elaborate heists while also doling out karma, Robin Hood style. But after nine and a half years, are we still following the plot? I'm Stephen Thompson, and today we are talking about Now You See Me, Now You Don't, on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Joining me today is Kristen Meinser. She co-hosts The Knightley on Hatch Plus. Hey, Kristen. Hey, Stephen, nice to be back. Now You See Me.

Well, I'm glad that I'm still seeing you. You haven't disappeared from my sight. Also with us is Christina Tucker. She's the co-host of the podcast. Wait, is this a date? Hello, Christina. Hello, Steven. So thrilled to be here. I am thrilled to have you both here. The Now You See Me movies focus on magicians who go by the name The Four Horsemen. They're played by Jesse Eisenberg, Ila Fisher, Dave Franco, and Woody Harrelson. I want you to think of one of these cards, but Don't think of the one you think I want you to think of. Got one?

Yeah, I got one. What was your car? Four of hearts. Nice one from the best. I'm impressed. I'm impressed. The cast has shifted and expanded since the first movie came out back in 2013. And though it's a complicated story full of lore, the fundamentals are simple.

The four horsemen used the art of illusion and spectacle to steal from the rich and give to the needy. Now You See Me, Now You Don't comes out nine and a half years after Now You See Me Too, so it has to do some work to catch people up on the story, especially given that this series has always been more popular overseas than in the U.S. But the new film reunites much of the original cast, while adding another team of magicians with their own agenda. They're played by Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt, and Dominic Sessa. In the new film, all these folks team up to fight a cruel diamond heiress

played by Rosamund Pike. She's even got a mcuffin handy in the form of a fist-sized diamond everyone is trying to steal. You've got twists and turns, tricks galore, mysterious benefactors, and just like in the Fast and the Furious movies, a fair bit of talk about family. Now You See Me, now you don't, was directed by Ruben Fleischer, who did Zombiland and Venom, and it's in theaters. Now, Christina Tucker, I'm going to start with you. What did you think of the movie? You know, I had a great time. Did I have a ton of thoughts while I was having said good time? No, not really. But I was just kind of vibing with my guys. We were solving magic. We were doing Robin Hood. I'm having a good time. Sure. I'm not thinking about it too deeply post, but it's a rock and roll in good close to two hours. Let's go. Are you familiar with this series? Did you come into this cold? I am familiar with the series. I did not come cold for the last like 10 years, a bunch of friends and I rent a house on New Year's every year. And like last year our movies were now you see me one and two for New Year's Day. So those are also just like a perfect New Year's Day movie. Can't recommend enough.

And so I was thrilled to join the team again to meet new friends. And I think the third is better than the second in my opinion. So we can discuss that further. But those are my thoughts. I'm just impressed that I was like, are you familiar with the Now You See Me franchise? Because it's not really big here. And you're like, oh, well, you know, I have a Now You See Me blog. Yeah. I forgot to wear my now. You see me merch. All right. So you came down pro with the caveat, not... It's not deep. It's not a thinker, but I had a good time. Nice. How about you, Kristen?

You know, I don't need to think to enjoy a movie, but I also need a movie to not try and do everything. And I feel like the biggest fault with this movie is it was trying to be all things to all people. And I don't think it succeeded. It wanted to have. appeal to young fans by bringing in this new squad of 20-somethings. It wanted to retain old fans by having callbacks to prior characters that some of us maybe don't even remember because it's been 15 years. There's a lot of call-backs. Yes. And in trying to make everyone happy, I just think they left the staple characters, especially Dave Franco, flailing around without much to do and making them kind of dumb, actually. Like, oh, these old folks don't know how to unlock doors anymore because they

don't do escape rooms like 22-year-olds do. I mean, what? What's going on here? So they're trying to make the young audience happy by making the old staple characters dumb now, I guess. I don't want my characters to be dumb. Like I said, I don't need to think that deeply, but I was getting distracted by some of the problems here. Oh. So you did have a thought in your head. You had a thought. My thought was, I'm confused and distracted. What's with this character and consistency? But I will say, I really loved Rosamond Pike in this movie. She is absolutely delicious. as our diamond mining magnet. She is charismatic.

She is evil. Every time she's on screen, it lights up. I really enjoyed her. And I also really enjoyed Justice Smith, too. So there you go. I didn't hate all the young characters. I just thought they could have been folded in better. So in defense of this movie, I think the older characters, it's not that they're dumb.

It's that they're rusty. It's kind of trying to explain away, like, what these people have been doing for the last decade. And mostly they've been, like, living life. and Dave Franco's character is like working on a cruise ship. I'm not sitting here like, no, no, the plot is airtight. No, I hear what you're saying, though. I did kind of have a similar feeling that it was less about them being like old and dumb and more like, guys, it's time to get your head back in the game.

We're calling you back for one last mission, you know, that vibe. Okay, but is your head so out of the game now that you walk into a ginormous 80,000 square foot mansion and 10 feet in, you're like, well, it's a dead end because it's a wall of bookcases. we better leave now. And it's like, nobody is that rusty. Of course, you know, that wall of bookcases is a trick door. Come on. Spatial awareness. 80,000 square foot mansion, a hundred square foot lobby. What? I think fully 40% of the dialogue in this movie is exposition. Yes. Easily. There's that too. It's not more, honestly. This is not a direct quote, but there's a lot of like, as you know, I deal in card magic. You know, there's so much of that. It honestly feels like they're doing it too. make me laugh at it because there's so much like, well, you know, when we created magic of the three of us back in life. I know you have been reluctant to get back into the game. But then on top of the exposition, there's also all these time wasting things trying to prove that they're magicians.

Like, do you guys watch Physical 100 where all of the strong men fight against each other on Netflix? There's all this B-roll on that show where in the locker room they're like, who can do more sit-ups? Look at me, lift-heavy things. And I feel like there are entire scenes in this movie that are like physical 100, except it's card tricks instead where you're just filling up time with like... And I'm pumping my fist the whole time. I'm saying, yeah, give me the tricks. Show me some magic.

I'm a howdy do that. I'm sitting there like, I want to see how they did that. That's a different dress than the one she was wear before. Kristen, I also think it's plausible that a bunch of magicians would sit around kind of backstage showing off. That is what I thought to. And a lot of it is just showing off. Yes, but there's also realistically backstage happening things like going to the bathroom and combing their hair. I don't need to see that either. What I want to see is magic used for the sake of Heise, Robin Hood Heise. And I want to see those tricks to help our plot move along. I don't need a bunch of side stuff. I don't need an out-of-nowhere F-1 car race. I don't need any of that stuff. I do. I want magic for the people. Magic to serve the greater good.

Okay. I like that. Okay. I think the out-of-nowhere F-1 race, if nothing else, that shows to me how this series, and I think this is very deliberate, is slowly morphing into the Fast and Furious franchise. Yeah. Like, it's a larger and larger kind of more unwieldy team of people who can kind of dip in and out. You know, in the Fast and the Furious movies, you're just wanting to get from action set piece to action set piece. And in this movie, I'm mostly wanting to get from bastards getting their comeuppance to bastards getting their comeuppance. And having that be in the form of magic tricks that they will then kind of pen and teller style explain. Guys, I have to say, I was totally here for it.

Yeah, I'm saying, eating it up with a big old spoon. And, you know, like, I definitely was curious kind of going into this film because I was, you know, doing a little Googling, looking at Wikipedia pages, kind of refreshing my memory because I don't remember moving. like these for two weeks, let alone nine and a half years. But I cannot think of a film franchise that I am most here to revisit on my next cross-country flight. Yeah, they are perfect plane movies. They should release these movies directly to airplanes. Because the sensation that I had, I wasn't necessarily sitting there quibbling with it the way

Kristen was, and I wasn't necessarily sitting there with no thoughts in my pretty little head. That's me. I was sitting there thinking like, oh my God, I'm halfway to Seattle. Fair. That's fair. Fair. And I'll also say that scientifically, it is proven that all films are 80 to 300 percent better when you're on a plane. That's just a fact.

And so you're right. This is a great airplane movie. If you get up to go to the bathroom, you're not going to miss much. You're also not going to have that thing that sometimes trips me up on flights, which is I'm a big crier, just in general. really big movie crier and a really, really big crying on an airplane because of whatever's going on with the air. Yes. This movie will not make you cry. This movie is just like, want to see another trick?

And like, yes, the answer is always yes, I want to see another trick. And I will say, like, having seen the second one semi-recently, I guess, my issue with that one was a lot of that is like maybe magic is real. And this kind of pulled back from that in a way that I thought was helpful because a lot of the second one kind of just relies on like, what if we could actually do real magic? And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. You can't. We have to have a couple of rules. Let's just stick to stealing things. Okay, we want to steal. So this felt to me like they had as silly and, you know, filled with characters and exhibition it was. There was a part of me that was like kind of tighten this up from two. Interesting. I think they do make improvements as they go along. You're totally right. Like I don't want to be like maybe this is real. because magic is not real. You know what else I want to see and that this film serves up with great Ilan? And that in general, I think this series gets right, which is I want to see these people rip off jerks. Yes. And the opening set piece of this film, I was sitting here like, this is silly.

I don't like this. This is dumb. This script is bad. These people are cheesy. And then all of a sudden, they rip off a crypto bro. And I was like, nah. I'm the sickos meme in that moment. And so to me, like, this is a film, I think, that understands, like, this stuff is a little silly.

These people are a little cheesy. This is kind of goofy, but, like, ultimately, it's just kind of serving up delights and, like, it knows what I want. Yeah. Which is magic set pieces and jerks getting their comeuppance. You know, Stephen, you mentioned how it feels like they're doing fast and the furious. It feels to me like they're doing fast in the furious meets ocean. 11. Totally. And like that to me like yeah, we could make 18 of these guys. Like I'm ready to go. Get me in the writer's room. Like I got ideas. And I just love that like every single bit of

nonsense plot kind of earns itself in the end. I don't know how successfully, you know, your mileage may vary on the final twisting. Kristen kind of tilted her head when you said that. For me, I was kind of like, we pulled that off. You know what? I will say this though. I did like the final twist. I did. Yeah. Yeah. The final twist, I was like, all right. Yeah, this is working for me. That was fine. I was like, okay. I didn't entirely see it coming in that way. And I was like, okay, I liked this. Like, I had a thought at the end. Listen to that. I had a thought, guys. I liked the twist. I liked our central characters. It's not that I hated this movie. There were a lot of things I liked about it. It was just so sloppy and overstuffed. And at the same time, just like, why do we have all this in here? Why? Please. And everything you two, Christina and Stephen, are saying about the fast and the furious and maybe this is the next Ocean's 11, I had the same criticisms of those movies. Why do we need more characters? Am I really being forced to keep track of 32 people now? This is too many people.

I mean, look, we've got seven for now. We're under the 11 maximum. So hopefully we stay here. If they're going to do a fourth now you for me, I don't know what that's going to be. I am glad that Kristen brought up Justice Smith Because I've kind of discovered I had a recent rewatch of Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves which is so great

Which I love so much And Justice Smith is in that And he's terrific And I kind of realized I've experienced this accumulation of movies That this guy has been in I think starting with Detective Pikachu Speaking of movies that should have been released

directly to airplanes And I have come to find, like, he is somebody I specifically look forward to in movies like this. And when he turns up, I'm like, hey, I like this kid. Yeah. This kid's good at what he does. And Dominic Sessa, you know, from the holdovers, like, that kid's got serious chops. Yeah, he's got some swag and some chops. And I really think, like, justice for me, I felt like a, you know, like a 50s movie executive.

I was like, this kid has it. I want him in all the pictures. But he really, like, commands the space in a way that I was kind of like, this is impressive for this kid who has been working for, feels like forever now. For a long time. And I'm kind of just like, yeah, whatever you got of him, get him in all the pictures. And same with Rosamond Pike. You know, when I came home and my partner was like, oh, what did you think of the movie? And I was kind of describing the plot such as it is. And I was like, well, you know, and Rosamond Pike shows up, she is Nicole Kidman. Oh, I'm sorry. She's better than Nicole Kidman. I don't think Nicole Kidman could have done this role like Rosamond.

But I'm saying the character would have been played by Nicole Kidman. I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago, and she has stepped in seamlessly. It's like Nicole and Paddington was her vibe. Oh, that era, that vibe, Nicole. I can see it. And love was Paddington movies. Oh, my God. Put Rosamund Pike in the next Paddington movie.

And Justice Smith. Yeah. We're on fire today. We've got ideas. Hollywood, are you listening? Listen to us. We're solving problems left and right. We have booked your next cross-country viewing.

Yep. Direct to Delta coming soon. I had a blast. Am I going to remember it in two weeks? Probably not. Are you going to remember it after this taping? Possibly not. Possibly not. I mean... See, I feel like I'm in a carbon date 2025. I'm like, well, what was... That was the year that Now You Three Me came out. Okay, great. Did you just say, Now You Three Me? That's what I've been calling it because now you see me colon, now you don't is way too long to say every single time. So I have... What is that colon doing there? Simply just been calling it, Now You Three Me, because I don't have the time. I'm very busy.

That's how you know they're not confident that they're going to get to make Now You See Me 4 because they would have used Now You 3 Me and would have saved Now You See Me Now You Don't for four. I hate to again out myself as someone who's like in the Now You See Me community. But I do think Now You 3 Me has been a joke that I guess we have been making for some time. I'm such a Now You See Me tourist. I got to get deeper and deeper into the lore. I have to reflect on my own relationship with these movies after we record. I'm kind of realizing some stuff right now.

All right, well, we want to know what you think about Now You See Me, now you don't. Find us at Facebook.com slash PCHH and on letterboxed at letterboxed.com slash NPR Pop Culture. We'll have a link in our episode description. That brings us to the end of our show. Kristen Meinser, Christina Tucker. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you.

Thank you. And just a reminder that signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus is a great way to support our show and public radio. And you get to listen to all of our episodes, sponsor-free. So please go find out more at plus.npr.org slash happy hour or visit the link in our show notes. This episode was produced by Carly Rubin, Kayla Latimore, and Mike Katzif, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all next time.