NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T | ©2025 Lionsgate

Rating: PG-13
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, Rosamund Pike, Morgan Freeman
Writers: Michael Lesslie and Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese and Seth Grahame-Smith, story by Eric Warren Singer and Michael Lesslie, based on characters created by Boaz Yakin & Edward Ricourt
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: November 14, 2025

NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T brings back the original Four Horsemen of stage magicians from the 2013 NOW YOU SEE ME – Jesse Eisenberg as team leader J. Daniel Atlas, Woody Harrelson as hypnotist Merritt McKinley, Isla Fisher as escape artist Henley Reeves, and Dave Franco as sleight-of-hand specialist Jack Wilder.

Although they headlined together in Vegas and globally, and pulled off some righteous heists, the quartet haven’t seen each other in about ten years, when 2015’s NOW YOU SEE ME 2 took place. (In the case of Fisher’s Henley, it’s longer, as both performer and character were extremely pregnant during the making of the second film, where Lizzy Caplan’s Lula was introduced.)

Before we delve too far into what they’ve all been doing for the past decade, we get to know a trio of tight-knit twentysomething tricksters, history-of-magic nerd Charlie (Justice Smith), alpha illusionist Bosco (Dominic Sessa) and lock-picker/high-climber June (Ariana Greenblatt).

As before, everyone is summoned by a mysterious anonymous entity that wants everybody to put aside their differences and grudges. This is so that they may team up, or reteam, as the case may be, to take down South African diamond heiress Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike).

Veronika not only follows the diamond industry’s tradition of treating the miners abominably, she’s involved in money-laundering for the international arms trade. She is, in other words, a villain who pretty much the entire audience can feel safe in hating.

The plot takes our team all over the world (the primary filming locations were Hungary and Abu Dhabi). We get all sorts of magic tricks, plus some fast and furious car action, legitimate “how will they get out of this” survival sequences, and a generally buoyant tone.

Ruben Fleischer’s direction is energetic and the screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese and Seth Grahame-Smith, from a story by Eric Warren Singer and Lesslie, based on characters created by Boaz Yakin & Edward Ricourt, is very good-natured. The actors are likewise engaging, with Smith’s eager Charlie and Pike’s happily wicked Veronika as standouts.

This all goes a fair way towards counteracting a somewhat formulaic feel. If we haven’t seen these particular illusions before, we’ve seen similar feats. The top dog posturing and resentment between Atlas and Bosco is familiar. Some “twists” are telegraphed in advance; others aren’t, but so much space has been left for them that they don’t strike us as especially surprising when they land in their slots.

While there are a few sorrowful notes, NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T mainly comes off as a frisky, cheerful group caper that is on target for those who like their crimes to have an ethical basis and their thrillers light and light-fingered.

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