★ 6 / 10
Lee" (Kenneth Branagh) and wife "Robin" (Judy Davis)
CinemaSerf
"Lee" (Kenneth Branagh) and wife "Robin" (Judy Davis) have been coasting along for quite a while when he suddenly declares to her that he wants a divorce. He's…
"Lee" (Kenneth Branagh) and wife "Robin" (Judy Davis) have been coasting along for quite a while when he suddenly declares to her that he wants a divorce. He's a writer largely reduced to churning out travelogues who has had his head banged against the wall following a high school reunion that made him realise that mundanity is set fair unless he does something about it. She doesn't take that so well, and seeks solace in a retreat that might be part of their problem. He feels that her strong Catholic religion has repressed their sex life and that, in turn, has impacted upon his literal creative juices. He certainly reckons that his new love "Bonnie" (Famke Janssen), herself a story editor, might be able to stimulate that. Meantime, "Robin" lands on her feet and is soon working with television executive "Tony" (Joe Mantegna) who offers her an whole new range of opportunities and as these two people begin to live independent lives, one begins to relish it and the other, well maybe less so. Is it a case of grass being greener or being careful what you wish for? It's an adequate drama this one that illustrates well the pulling power of Woody Allen in assembling a fairly stellar cast, but the episodic style of the storytelling is miss more than hit for me, and with the underpinning marital drama barely registering on the interesting scale, it really falls to one lively and authentic looking scene with Leonardo DiCaprio as the over-indulged film star having a mega-strop with his girlfriend and threatening to trash the hotel to bring the film to a brief form of life. It's too long, at times repetitive, and extremely verbose as the characters never seem capable of shutting up long enough to listen to what has already been said, let alone absorb or implement it's messages. Monochrome helps it's look, as does the classic sounding score, but as an opportunity to satirise the whole business of celebrity and the fickleness of fame, it rather disappoints.
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★ 7 / 10
A bit all over the place
jellopuke
Kenneth Branagh plays not Woody, doing his best Woody impression as he divorces his wife and stumbles through relationships and life, failing to sell a…
Kenneth Branagh plays not Woody, doing his best Woody impression as he divorces his wife and stumbles through relationships and life, failing to sell a screenplay and write a novel while his ex becomes a famous TV personality, gets married, and pregnant.This movie looks amazing in black and white and is occasionally brilliant if scattershot, There are loads of cameos and some really funny moments even though the plot kind of stumbles around and takes too long to get to its point,. That said, when it works, its great, even though it sometimes doesn't. Probably a middle of the road Woody movie, but still worth seeing.
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★ 7 / 10
Unjustly overlooked
danielll_rs
CELEBRITY (1998) ***1/2 The biggest irony in CELEBRITY is how long it took to be released in Brazil: two years. This is not a common thing here, but it has…
CELEBRITY (1998) ***1/2
The biggest irony in CELEBRITY is how long it took to be released in Brazil: two years. This is not a common thing here, but it has also happened to DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, SWEET AND LOWDOWN and now SMALL TIME CROOKS. It seems that they have something against Woody Allen and his fans, but in fact it is a problem among the distributors. However, the wait was worthy: CELEBRITY is a great film.
It received bad reviews in the US for no apparent reason- here in Brazil the reviews were almost universally positive. Maybe the critics are tired of Woody Allen, maybe they just didn't get his point. The truth is that CELEBRITY is no ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS or CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, but is a great film overall.
The story is about a divorced couple- Lee and Robin Simon (Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis), who try to find their position in the society. Lee is a journalist who starts to write about art, so he gets closer to celebrities. He gets involved with lots of women- the futile actress Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith) who belongs to her husband only down the neck, a supermodel (Charlize Theron) with an "erotic failure", a cold woman (Famke Janssen) who wants to live with him, and a second rate actress (Winona Ryder) who is not his "obscure object of desire" as he thinks. He is between finish writing his novel (after the bad reviews for his first novel) and trying to sell a script- when he meets another futile star (Leonardo DiCaprio). In resume, his life is a mess with no way-back. In the meantime, his ex-wife Robin, an English teacher, ironically gets more luck than him: she meets a TV producer (Joe Mantegna), who thinks she has a future as a TV presenter.
With a good story in hands, Allen turns it into an acid, funny film. But you know the laughs in his films aren't gratuitous- they come naturally, or depending on the way you get into the scene. And they are also bitter (remember the subtitles scene in ANNIE HALL)- this taste of humor is not for everyone. The funniest, best scene is when the prostitute teaches Davis' character how to do a blow-job, using a banana.
As usual, Allen takes great performances from the whole cast. Kenneth Branagh has been criticized for imitating Woody Allen too much, but I think he did a great job. We already know Judy Davis (especially), Joe Mantegna and Winona Ryder are terrific, but it is a miracle what Allen can do with Melanie Griffith, Leonardo Di Caprio and Charlize Theron, usually bland performers. Charlize is the most peculiar character and delivers a great and funny performance.
The main detail of the film is the use of black-and-white. This is not the first time Allen uses that (MANHATTAN, STARDUST MEMORIES, SHADOWS AND FOG), but it is almost a character in this picture- it shows a world that is even more sufocating than ours. With that, he makes an acid critic about our society, that turns superficial, futile people into instant celebrities. This is not new, of course, but here these people are also victims of the sufocating society. If a society can be interpreted by who it chooses to celebrate, it is worse than it seems to be.
Allen commits some mistakes here and there with his critic, but you don't find many films like this out there- clever, funny, bitter and realistic. Remember the HELP sign on the air...
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