CELEBRITY (1998)
Rating: 2.0 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Woody Allen
Written by: Woody Allen
Ingredients: Washed up writer, divorce, chasing women
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Famke Janssen
Synopsis: Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh) and his wife Robin (Judy Davis) get a divorce. From that moment, Lee goes chasing around after beautiful young women in the entertainment business. Meanwhile Lee's wife Robin doesn't chase anyone at all, but nonetheless captures the heart of a wonderful man. Leonardo DiCaprio has a small part as a decadent celebrity who examines one of Lee's writing projects.
Opinion: CELEBRITY could have been interesting as a vivacious comedy, but director Woody Allen plays this one serious and instead gives us a black and white film about a shallow divorcee who doesn't seem to go anywhere as he fails one relationship after another.
Woody Allen films are easily recognizable because the characters talk in self-confessions, as if each dialogue partner is a part-time psychoanalyst. In CELEBRITY not only do we get the trademark dialogue, but Kenneth Branagh, playing Lee Simon, is a dead ringer for Woody Allen himself. Branagh does a masterful job imitating Woody Allen's speech, mannerisms, and facial ticks. Unfortunately, all this good acting goes to waste on CELEBRITY's canned script which presents us with nothing we haven't seen before.
In movies we hope to be uplifted, or at least to be entertained by something new, something exciting, or something deep - - as characters grow, win battles, or come to profound realizations. But in CELEBRITY no such goals or realizations occur, and filming in black and white doesn't make the shallow skirt-chasing seem any more insightful. Give us something more profound.
Reviewed by David Sunga November 21, 1998
Copyright © 1998 by David Sunga This review and others like it can be found at THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com email: zookeeper@criticzoo.com
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