Jesse Eisenberg: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

3. J. Daniel 'Danny' Atlas - Now You See Me (2013)

In Eisenberg’s healthy filmography of memorable characters, J. Daniel ‘Danny’ Atlas wouldn’t even make the list.

The cocksure leader of Now You See Me’s band of thief magicians, the Four Horseman, Atlas comes across as a confident, clever and sharp-tongued illusionist. ‘Great,’ you think, ‘the perfect fit for Eisenberg.’

But there’s a caveat: while Eisenberg’s best genius assholes are underpinned with a layer of neurosis, Atlas somewhat ironically appears to have no such complexity up his sleeve. All of his tricks have a secret factor that unlocks their magic, but even Eisenberg can’t rescue Atlas from becoming an unlikeable cliché.

This is despite the film placing Eisenberg back into a proven formula, as Zombieland co-star Woody Harrelson plays fellow Horseman Merritt McKinney. In fact, at points it seems as though the entire cast could’ve been filmed in different rooms given their complete lack of chemistry.

Having said this, audiences seemed to be won over by Eisenberg and his crew, resulting in this year’s sequel and the announcement of a third film in the series. (Now You Three Me?) As they say, maybe magic just relies on distraction – in this case, from Eisenberg’s third-worst performance to date.