DVD `ILLUSIONIST' IS MAGIC.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

There is magic in Edward Norton's performance in ``The Illusionist.''

There's nothing given away in his masterful performance as the 19th-century Austrian illusionist Eisenheim, whose love for aristocrat Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel) caused him trouble as a youth.

When Sophie volunteers to assist him some 15 years later and their love is rekindled, Eisenheim finds himself under the scrutiny of her fiance, the overbearing Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), who is scheming to overthrow his father, and his toady, Vienna chief of police Uhl (Paul Giamatti), an amateur magician himself.

Uhl is torn between placating the ruthless Leopold and his fascination with and appreciation of Eisenheim, who has begun to do greater and greater illusions, including bringing back walking, talking ghosts on stage. As the magician's cult of personality grows, so, too, does the prince's rage.

A complicated cat-and-mouse game ensues, and you're soon sucked into figuring out the trick. Norton has always been somewhat of a chameleon. Here it suits him particularly well, as it's hard to spot the man behind the illusion.

Giamatti's middle-class overachiever Uhl is a perfect foil to Norton's inscrutability and the prince's need to control things. Biel is simply luminous.

``The Illusionist,'' written and directed by Neil Burger, is adapted from a short story by Steven Millhauser, winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his novel ``Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer.'' Burger -- aided by a moody Philip Glass score -- gives the film a haunting, elegant quality.

What it adds up to is still much of a mystery, but it doesn't matter. At times, ``The Illusionist'' is mesmerizing, and, as at the end of good trick, your reaction is, ``That's cool.''

Can you be too on target?

Apparently so. Mike Judge's comedy ``Idiocracy'' is about an ``average'' man -- Army private Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) -- who is chosen as a guinea pig in an experiment to see if humans can be stored indefinitely in hibernation. When he wakes up 500 years later, he's the smartest guy on the planet, because the stupid people have procreated faster than the intelligent ones.

Ouch. Will it take that long?

Things are so seriously out of whack that Joe is being asked to take over at the White House, where the president is a former porn star and a ``Smackdown!'' champion.

And of course Fox News Channel will be the only source for information. Ironically, it was the Fox studio that dumped this imperfect but often funny dark satire by Judge, the director of the cult film ``Office Space'' and creator of ``Beavis and Butt-Head.''

Over the top, you say. Little more than a week ago, I logged on to my Web home page and was offered a chance to watch raw footage of Saddam being hanged, or Lindsay Lohan pole-

dancing. I guess that's entertainment these days.

Fans of ``24'' should enjoy the British action series ``MI-5,'' now in its fourth season. Sort of the UK's combination homeland security/FBI, its agents -- at least on the show -- have, like ``24's'' Jack Bauer, a bulldog determination to stop terrorism. And as in Jack's case, ``MI-5's'' Adam Carter (Rupert Penry-Jones) and his boss, Harry Pearce (Peter Firth), are dodging bullets from bad guys as well as politicians' bombs.

Season four opens with London facing a series of bombings by a group who believes the population needs ``culling'' because it has become a scourge to the Earth. Nothing, unfortunately, seems preposterous anymore.

As with ``24,'' you don't need to have watched the previous years to enjoy the excellent series. Some story lines run through, but they're easily picked up. In fact, a number of cast members have changed over the four seasons -- Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy in ``Pride & Prejudice'') was the original lead.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators of the original ``Office,'' have found another unglamorous lot to brilliantly skewer in HBO's ``Extras.'' Gervais plays Andy Millman, a 40-something who has made a career as an extra, though he has greater ambitions, and Ashley Jensen is Maggie Jacobs, an extra with no real ambitions. As on the ``Larry Sanders Show,'' real stars play twisted versions of themselves.

In the opening episode, Kate Winslet is playing a beatific nun in a Holocaust film the pair are working on when she overhears Maggie saying her new boyfriend likes phone sex. Winslet then offers her some explicit advice while still in her nun's habit. When told she's an inspiration taking on the nun's role, Winslet blithely replies that Holocaust movies are a sure road to an Oscar. Spotting a woman with palsy visiting a friend on the set, she adds that cripples are, too. Everyone in Hollywood thinks the same things, but hearing it from such a respected star is a hoot.In Episode 2, Ben Stiller, directing a serious movie about a war victim, can't stop jabbering about how much ``Meet the Fockers'' made.

Meanwhile, Maggie and Andy babble on, mostly clueless, bemoaning their fate. ``Extras,'' which starts up again on HBO on Sunday, can make you wince. But it's painfully funny.

Rob Lowman [phone]

[e-mail]

NEW FILMS

``The Illusionist'' (Fox; $29.99)

``Crank'' (Lionsgate; $29.98)

``Idiocracy'' (Fox; $27.99)

``The Night Listener'' (Miramax; $29.99)

``Bandidas'' (Fox; $27.98)

``Quinceanera'' (Columbia; $26.96)

``I Trust You to Kill Me'' (First Independent; $19.98)

``Conversations With Other Women'' (Hart sharp: $24.98)

``Color of the Cross'' (Fox; $26.98)

TELEVISION

``Extras -- The Complete First Season '' (HBO; $29.98)

``MI-5, Volume 4'' (BBC Warner; $79.98)

``SpongeBob SquarePants -- Season 4, Vol. 2'' (Paramout; $36.99)

FAMILY

``Broken Bridges (Paramount; $29.99)

``The Snow Queen'' (BBC Warner; $14.98)

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Edward Norton is a 19th-century magician -- and Jessica Biel is the object of his affection -- in ``The Illusionist.''