Celebrity
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Movie Reviews of Celebrity
Movie Review: Ken dithers......
Summary: 3 Stars
Ken stammers....Ken does Woody........and that's the best thing that can be said about this particular film - Kenneth Branagh's ability to become Woody Allen. Mr. Allen directs one of this century's foremost Shakespearean actors in such a way as to have accomplished a 'reproduction Woody'. Additionally, Allen's use of handcam style filming goes out of it's way to make Mr. Branagh look as old and dissipated as Woody himself. However, to be fair, fans of the 'Woody Allen genre' will probably enjoy this Allen formula film. The angst of the lead character as well as tongue in cheek skewering of the rich and famous abound. Watch for Winona Ryder in one of the earlier films she made outside of the 'good girl' box.Movie Review: Branagh's Impersonation of Woody
Summary: 3 Stars
The most annoying thing about this commentary on the "star" system in America was watching Kenneth Branagh personify Woody Allen, down to the ticks and stutters that characterize classic Allen films. The usual fascination with surface features of women lead him from bed to bed, never satisfied because he can't seem to engage in emotional or spiritual intercourse. He only thinks he knows what makes his partner tick, and he's too busy telling her to listen to her perspective. In a way, this is a commentary on much of male behavior in a culture that is engendered to favor the male point of view, starting with fairy tales, and winding up in the land of celebrity, emotionally celebate.Movie Review: Not Much To Celebrate
Summary: 3 Stars
portrayal of Woody Allen's role wasn't exactly annoying, but it wasn't particularly endearing either. This movie was not too enjoyable, although Leonardo DeCaprio was a bright spot. This one seemed to be a little slapdash, not to the point of "Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy", but clearly it isn't one of his best. Bottom of the midrange. Had he made this one in the 1970s it might have gone down as a classic. Not anymore.Movie Review: Not One Of Woody's Best
Summary: 3 Stars
This film included many of our best actors: they were great. However, the script lacked some of the juice of Mr. Allan's better films.Movie Review: Fatally flawed movie despite fine premise
Summary: 2 Stars
This comedy is a tribute in the guise of a parody of the great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini's early '60s classic, LA DOLCE VITA. (Just so we don't miss the point, this was shot in black-and-white, but, unlike the older film, the story is now set in -- where else in a contemporary Woody Allen movie? -- Manhattan, rather than Rome.)So far, so good. This should well have been another perfectly good Allen comedy, but, alas, he blows it big time by casting a woefully unsuited actor -- not even a seasoned comic actor -- to star in a role screenwritten for the unique delivery style and appearance of, well, Woody Allen.
Allen has said in interviews that he cast Kenneth Branagh in this part because Allen looks too old for it: He needed someone about 40, and Branagh fit the bill.
HUGE mistake. Though Branagh is a distinguished dramatic actor and director, he's totally out of his depth playing a younger stand-in for Allen, much as Allen himself would be if he was to play Claudius opposite Branagh as Hamlet.
Branagh simply doesn't know how to be funny in here. He speaks all the Woody Allen-type lines, credibly recreates Allen's requisite halting patter, yet utterly fails to capture either Allen's, or any other sort of, comic timing. The result is that he merely sounds foolish and pathetic -- too much so to even care about his character.
Allen should've faced facts, bit the bullet, and cast himself in the part. Sure, he's too old, but that could've been easily remedied by changing the story just enough to make that character older. After all, it's not an action movie we're talking here: Make the character 60ish, cast an older actress like Diane Keaton or Dianne Wiest (who're much funnier at playing an Allenesque female counterpart than is the younger Judy Davis anyway) as his ex-wife, cast someone like Judy Davis instead of the glamorous Famke Janssen as Allen's first girlfriend and someone like Madonna or Helen Hunt instead of Winona Ryder as his even more youthful second girlfriend. These modifications would've worked beautifully, making it popular with audiences and critics alike, and made a profit instead of losing the bundle it did.
And what a shame: The movie has some wonderful, hilarious set-ups for Allen's brand of humor -- escapades with a seductive supermodel (Charlize Theron), with a madcap movie star (Leonardo DiCaprio), and at a literary cocktail party. The LA DOLCE VITA parallelling provides a nice framework for everything, but without Allen in the flesh, the completed work suffers badly for want of wit, personality and cohesion.