Celebrity
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Movie Reviews of Celebrity
Movie Review: Redux, Redux
Summary: 3 Stars
The Chinese have their years named after various animals. Apparently this year for me is the Year of Woody Allen. For the better part of the year I have been watching, and in several cases re- watching films, that the comic has acted in, produced, directed or some combination of the three. Some have been disappointing. Some, like Annie Hall, have withstood the test of time and go into the pantheon. Others, reflecting the fact that if one lives long enough, as Allen has, then one is sure to repeat themes worked in the past, sometimes with uneven results. That is the case with Celebrity. There are some very funny individual scenes that rank with Allen classics but overall we have been here before. Allen's look at the pranks and pitfalls of celebrity in New York City (his favorite locale, and correctly so) in the mid-1990's is the updated version of his less than funny Zelig that looked at celebrity in the Jazz Age.
Moreover, the film has an overly manic quality, particularly on the part of the frustrated male writer (surprise, surprise) and his unfulfilled and bewildered schoolteacher wife soon to be separated so that said writer can `find' himself. The mannerisms (to speak nothing of a certain vague similarity of appearance) of the pair reminded me of the good old days when Woody and Mia (oops, better not mention that) held forth. Except here on speed. If you love black and white film, if you love Woody Allen and most importantly if you are new to the Allen genre then get this film. Others, veterans, can take it or leave it.
Movie Review: Tale of the "Starstruck Underachieving Writer"
Summary: 3 Stars
Although the movie doesn't start at this point, the storyline does. Lee, a Hollywood beat writer, skillfully portrayed by Kenneth Branagh attends his twenty year high school reunion and realizes his life is passing by uneventfully while he's married to a school teacher, Robin (Judy Davis). A divorce ensues and Lee begins searching for happiness among Hollywood's "elite". A series of fairly entertaining misadventures commence for both Lee and Robin that lend insight to the life of *Celebrities* obviously filtered through Woody Allen's glasses. Fans of both Branagh and Allen should be pleased. Some viewers will feel the pain of Branagh's character at his class reunion and thus be able to sympathize to some degree for the rest of the movie. Of course Lee is so self-serving it's amusing to wonder what Woody Allen's plot has in store for him as punishment. Great cameos abound and performances by Leonardo Dicaprio, Charlize Theron, and Famke Janssen enhance the lumbering plot immensely.Movie Review: Echimosis
Summary: 3 Stars
I can't decide if Celebrity is just sloppy or if Woody Allen was finally getting more comfortable with himself. This film has some of the same themes we have seen before:
the lack of interest in fidelity
fugitive emotions
wanting what ever it is that you can't have
bad food and such small portions
a lovely moment that goes horribly wrong
Judy Davis getting hysterical
But this time we see everything without the layer of charm we have been trained to expect from WAFPs.
I can't help wondering if the film would have gone better if Joe Mantegna had played the nebbishy husband and Kenneth Branagh played the studio exec.
The film fails in that by the end, we are ready to say goodbye and we don't care what happens to the only copy of the novel. Didn't they have computers when this film was made?
Movie Review: woody needs to join the rest of us in the 21st century...
Summary: 3 Stars
i have and always will enjoy woody allen's use of beautiful black and white. however, many of us have spent thousands of dollars on surround sound equipment for our home entertainment centers. why bother releasing a film on d.v.d. if it is going to be recorded in mono?here was an elegantly filmed piece of cinema and it comes out of one speaker. i thought woody might have learned his lesson when he did the same thing with "everyone says i love you"...i mean, come on...a musical comedy in mono???
get with it "wood" man...
otherwise, "celebrity" was so-so. my favorite scene was the lunchtime television show at the restaurant. donald trump talking about buying st. patrick's, making some renovations and putting up a nice, magnificent high rise. what a hoot!
Movie Review: Above Average--Slightly.
Summary: 3 Stars
Celebrity is a movie more good than bad as it has a certain visual appeal that most of Woody's later films lack. I read in an Allen biography that he tried to stop Kenneth Branagh from impersonating him on set. Unfortunately, he wasn't persuasive enough as Branagh's performance was more a caricature of Woody than anything else. As for Judy Davis, who I like in practically everything, she is misused. Her personality is more exaggeration than person. It seems to me that Allen cleaved off various neuroses from his own personality, and then evenly distributed them to the male and female leads. There's just not a whole lot of depth to this film. It fails to teach us anything that is not blatantly obvious, but it certainly was entertaining. Enjoyment alone is why I give it three stars.