I've seen a lot of hatred for Now You See Me, but several people I know have (with some mild shame) admitted to quite enjoying it. Personally, I side with the latter. Now You See Me is a terrible film: the plot is pointless, the character's completely two-dimensional, the twist relatively apparent and it completely lacks any form of meaning. On the other hand: it's well-acted, the dialogue is passable, nothing wrong with the direction, production or sound, and the effects are clever and well designed.

In other words, Now You See Me is a brainless film that seeks purely to entertain. It has no desire to teach, to wow or to make you think, but it gets that magic is cool and watching magicians is fun. Yes, if you begin to engage your brain for a second you'll question the characters motives and even realise that magic portrayed on film is just CGI and editing, rather than actually awesome or baffling, but if you do that you've missed the point. The point is to stick the brain on autopilot and have fun, which Now You See Me achieves well. Films don't have to be immersive or intelligent, so long as I forget what I'm doing and enjoy myself then they're still worthwhile as entertainment. My partner (one of those shamefaced individuals who recommended the film to me) described it as:

An action/heist equivalent of a chick flick.

I'd say that pretty much sums it up. It's an Oceans 12 or Transporter. Don't think too much, ride the wave of action and get swept along with the premise and you'll have a great time.