at the end we see that he really drilled a hole in his head (unless that was an act?) which means he supposedly held his pee, and slept on hot coals also.
Why not just use magic to give the illusion that he's doing these things?
It's suppose to be a parody of douchey, emo magicians like Blane and Angel. That's why he was so over-the-top.
shareI never even HEARD of these 2 people, but I don't watch TV either.
shareI just looked up David Blaine, he isn't an illusionist at all.
I can't really call them tricks either, I think anybody is able to do what he did, it doesn't require any skill at all
David Blaine does do actual tricks. He is a decent illusionist, not great. He now mostly does endurance challenges, which are boring and pretty stupid, like enclosing himself in ice for a week.
shareIt's good to see some of the kids on IMDB ask questions to understand something instead of saying "plot hole" like some some 21st century cave man.
It was satire of the world of magicians. The whole film was satire.
While I appreciate your sentiment, i'm no kid. I comprehend satire but felt this went beyond and simply wanted to see what others had to say.
shareLike someone else mentioned, it's a parody of David Blaine's stupid tricks that he called 'magic', like standing on a column for 3 days or living in a glass box over the River Thames for a week without eating (Ok, Wonderstone spoofed that).
I guess Blaine hasn't been in the public eye for years which is why not many people understood Steve Gray's significance. The film probably would've done better had it been made 8 years ago...
Before Blaine started with the more Stunt stuff, he was an excellent magician. Now he is a glorified stuntman.
shareOh, c'mon--both Blaine, and Penn & Teller, got big pulling those kinds of stunts for years. What happened to Blaine,though---did he retire or something? It's been ages since his last special (whenever that was.)
shareHim holding his pee for 12 days, rofl. That would give him serious bladder issues.
shareI think it is a little crazy for one to hold their bladder for 12 days since that is indeed painful.
shareHe was kind of more like a fakir - Indian holy man - or guru than a big stage magician.
I think he was trying to strip it all back to basics, going onto the street, avoiding many fancy props etc
Could anyone really hold their bladder like that, or would they pee themselves?
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!
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It's kind of like the Jim Rose Circus, they used to do "freaky" things like this... driving nails up the nose etc.
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!
The message was that instead of doing actual magic tricks, Jim Carrey's character just does Jackass-style stunts, and that is what entertainment has become. The traditional magician is portrayed as old-fashioned in the movie.
"Enough of that technical talk, Foo!"
Yes someone finally mentioned jackass. It shows what we find entertaining now. Stupid violent acts.
shareInteresting to know he could be seen as parodying or satirizing some existing entertainers. Certainly Jackass came to my mind but also the term "pain-body" jumped out at me. This seemed to be mocking pretentious new age mystics, such as Eckhart Tolle who seems associated to this term, as it's a section in his famous book. The Wikipedia article for Tolle mentions this:
>In June 2009, Tolle and Jim Carrey headlined the first conference of the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment, or GATE, where both are Honorary Founders.
So, it seems Jim Carrey is closely allied with this mystic, as well. How odd.
His character is so obviously a parody of Criss Angel. Not David Blaine. It's so obvious the fact that people are oblivious to it brings me physical pain. Like, actual physical pain. It's called satire people. Exagerration is a key factor in it.
share>It's so obvious the fact that people are oblivious to it brings me physical pain.
But it can't be obvious to people like me who have never heard of Criss Angel, can it. Too many cultural references for anyone to know all of them.