SINGAPORE — Add a star-studded ensemble cast to a heist caper that’s based on mysterious magic tricks and you’d think you have a winner on your hands. But it isn’t quite Ocean’s Eleven meets The Prestige.

Now You See Me stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco as The Four Horsemen, illusionists who graduate to the Las Vegas stage after being picked from relative obscurity. And for their first trick, they siphon off millions of dollars from a French bank millions of miles away in front of a live audience. FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) is joined by Interpol’s Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) to investigate the puzzling case, seeking the help of magician-turned-secrets revealer Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). Michael Caine rounds off the main cast as Arthur Tressler, a benefactor of The Four Horsemen.

Watching the quartet execute their tricks with style, confidence and panache is a joy — all four are humourous and entertaining. Harrelson is extremely watchable here as a mentalist who’s recovering from a bad period, and Eisenberg is mesmerising as the ringleader, all cocky and brash. Ruffalo, constantly flustered and outfoxed, is also a great watch, and Freeman’s key in unravelling how the heists get pulled off. Sadly, Laurent and Caine just don’t get enough to do.

The movie’s a cat and mouse game of the Horsemen constantly outfoxing the FBI — there are many clever moments — and it’s all well and good until the movie’s final act when everything just fizzles out and just ruins everything the movie tries to set up. For all the misdirection and trickery the movie had up its sleeve, director Louis Leterrier’s (The Incredible Hulk, Clash Of The Titans) prestidigitation is unable to make a grand reveal of the finale, and all the lens flares, quick panning and rotating shots don’t distract from the absolutely bewildering ending, complete with pointless love story.

Saved by a very capable cast and a very fun first three-quarters, Now You See Me is more parlour tricks than Las Vegas illusionist. Despite all its yearning to be the smartest one in the room, it clearly fails to be, especially with that ending leaving it with a few cards short of a full deck.