Review by John Delia, Sr.
When it comes to women’s sexual empowerment over the years they certainly have the edge as shown in the movie Half Magic. In fact the opening minutes of this very funny romantic comedy even “outs†the P word for vagina. Much like the docudrama Free the Nipple in which the film makes female nudity popular, this film makes the P word an accepted addition to our vocabulary, well maybe. The movie “outs†the word as an empowerment for women. What’s next, using the C word for Penis? Oh, yeah that word’s used by the ladies several times in Half Magic.
As a young girl Honey Harrison (Heather Graham) was taught by Pastor Gary (Johnny Knoxville) that sex is wrong unless it is used to make a baby or she’ll go to Hell. Now that she’s a lot older you would think Honey had left that notion all behind. Especially since her boss Peter Brock (Chris D’Elia), the famous soft porn screenwriter and a major sexist, “uses†honey’s body regularly. It’s a downer for Honey, but she needs the job.
One day Honey receives and invitation in the mail stating “Is your life getting you down? Get in touch with your Pâ€. It’s an invitation to the Divine Feminine Workshop. Feeling her life has no meaning, she decides to scope the place out. On her arrival she’s met by two excited attendants who escort her into hall filled with enthusiastic women. The leader of the seminar, Mistress Valesca (Molly Shannon), gives the girls a pep talk about women “uncovering their deepest desires†and joining the Pleasure Revolution by “listening to your Pâ€. At the seminar Honey meets Eva (Angela Kinsey), and Candy (Stephanie Beatriz) during a pairing off to pay homage to their breasts and they seem to have a lot in common.
Following the event Candy invites the girls to her workplace where she introduces them to candle magic. So begins a hilarious situation comedy with romance giving the girls an opportunity to go down their broken road to self-fulfillment. Writer/Director of Half Magic, Heather Graham takes a stab at being a first time chief and comes up a winner. She must have learned a lot from Boogie Nights as her script has a touch of “pleasure†at many turns from self sex to wild emotional love making.
The film moves along at a fast pace creating a wide range of comedic situations. Along the way the girls have to solve their inner problems and turn them into self-loving and acquired intimacy. Graham actually looks like she’s having too much fun with her fellow actors while putting them through their paces. Angela Kinsey uses her memorable role from The Office to instill a softhearted naive Eva who finds herself being a pushover for her ex-husband’s (Thomas Lennon) amusement. She wins big here adding an interesting role to the mix that has a common existence in today’s male dominated society. (Well, okay maybe it’s a co-dominated society, whatever that may be.)
I am very pleased that Stephanie Beatriz got the role of Candy. Here she’s the out of touch with reality “witch†that makes friends with Eva and Honey. Her character’s problem is dealing with her conniving boyfriend who uses her for his pleasures. Candy has to find her self-worth before she ends up being alone the rest of her life and right now she’s headed for a dead end. You will recognize her for her role as tough cop Rosa Diaz in TV’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine†where she dominates the show with her deadpan humor.
The sweet and humorous Heather Graham does a hat trick as the writer, director and star of Half Magic. And with a tough taskmaster position I’m impressed that she holds her own as a filmmaker. I like the way she doesn’t upstage her costars and allows them to have their own starring scenes. She plays Honey with the coy personality, and it’s what it takes to go from chaste to wild. If there is a down side of her character however, it’s in the way she gives her body too freely just to remain in her job, it borders on tramp rather than a fall from grace.
It’s been 34 years since Heather Graham got her first role in a recognizable movie and she doesn’t look a day over that number. She’s even more gorgeous than Roller Girl, a role she coined in 1997’s Boogie Nights. I don’t know the secret of her youth and beauty, but whatever it is, keep on going girl.
Half Magic has been rated R by the MPAA for strong sexual content, nudity, language and drug use. There is a lot of openly radical language regarding body parts and the drug use gets a little over the top with bong smoking, cocaine and other illegal substances. It’s a mature adult’s only film.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A wacky romancer is pointed directly at the female gender. It’s best seen with a group of girlfriends or housewives (4 out of 5 stars)
Additional Film Information
Cast: Heather Graham, Angela Kinsey, Stephanie Beatriz, Jason Lewis, Thomas Lennon, Chris D’Elia and Johnny Knoxville
Directed by: Heather Graham
Genre: Comedy, Romance
MPAA Rating: Â R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and drug use
Running Time: 1 hr. 34 min.
Release Date: February 23, 2018
Distributed by: Momentum Pictures
Available: Theaters, VOD and Digital HD