Celebrity (1998)

Powerful

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Review: I really couldn't get into this movie. Kenneth Branagh's babbling, fake American ancient was really annoying and the back and forth storyline wasn't that great. I did have high hopes for the film after seeing the cast, but once again, I was terribly let down with the outcome. Basically the movie is about a journalist who has just broken up from wife, after many years of marriage and he decides to play the field and make the most out of his single life. After falling in and out of love with many different beautiful women, he struggles to complete his novel but he still goes around mingling with the rich and famous. His wife struggles to find herself and after trying many different methods to find pleasure in her life, she ends up with a well known television producer who helps her through her difficult break-up. With all of this material, you would think that the movie would be interesting or, at least, entertaining, but I honestly got bored after a while Branagh's stuttering, which Woody Allen is famous for, really didn't suit his persona. All of the famous people like Charlize Theron, Melanie Griffith and Leonardo DiCaprio, only had brief parts in the movie but when they were on screen, it did make the movie slightly interesting. In all, it's a waste of a great cast and I just found the movie to be a bit of a drag. Disappointing! Round-Up: I'm surprised that Woody Allen still gets these big budgets when he has lost so much money at the box office. He still is highly respected in Hollywood, but I'm really struggling to see why! Anyway, the leading character was a bad choice by the director, but I was impressed with the young DiCaprio and Judy Davis who put in a emotional performance. There are a couple of decent scenes, like when DeCaprio is arguing with his girlfriend and the scenes with Charlize Theron but that was about it. Like many other Woody Allen movies, you have the usual New York backdrop and he chosen to film the whole movie in black and white, for some unknown reason. Anyway, it's not the greatest Woody Allen movie that I have seen and judging by the box office takings, I'm not alone.Budget:$12million Worldwide Gross: $5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into there Woody Allen movies about a journalist who leaves his wife to play the field amongst the stars in Hollywood. 3/10

It seems like Celebrity is one of Woody Allen's most polarising films and that is understandable. It is one of my least favourite films of his along with What's Up Tiger Lily, To Rome with Love and Cassandra's Dream(remember September, Shadow and Fog and Curse of the Jade Scorpion not being very good, but all three need a re-watch), but that is not to say it is terrible because it isn't. It is wonderfully photographed(by far and away the best thing about the film), not surprising seeing as this is Sven Nykvist- responsible for a lot of the photography for the films of Ingmar Bergman, the best of which are some of the most visually beautiful and best films ever made- we're talking about. It does have some funny and witty lines, the best of which really sparkle, not to the extent they're quotable but they are funny still and raise a good smile. There are some scenes like Bebe Neuwirth teaching Judy Davis how to improve her sexual skills and Leonardo DiCaprio's tempting Branagh, or at least trying to, into group sex that are memorable. Allen's direction is a little unfocused in places but his style is unmistakable still, so Celebrity at least feels like a Woody Allen film and it has enough quirky moments to not be too dull. The performances on the most part are a lot of fun as well, Winona Ryder, Bebe Neuwirth, Leonardo DiCaprio(who had the most energy in the cast) and Joe Montegna being particularly so. Famke Janssen is appealing too, in short though this is a case of the supporting cast being better than the leads.Kenneth Branagh I have to agree doesn't work here(a shame because he is a great actor and just as talented a director), giving a rare irritating performance that is so careful channelling Woody Allen that he comes across as a pale imitation instead with no sense of originality or coming into his own. That his material is not the best works against him as well. Judy Davis is a little better with some signs of charm and humanity but a lot of her performance is way overdone, for somebody who was so good in Husbands and Wives it was disappointing. The script and gags have their moments and much of it is most admirable, but the humour could have been more biting and more acerbic. It was a very good example of humour that was funny in parts but wasn't consistent, it wasn't clever, sharp or thought provoking enough and came across as mean-spirited in places. And there are scenes that just don't work, some of the blow-job jokes did to me come across as distasteful while the scenes with Davis's doorstepping television interviews, Ryder's rehearsal in seducing women and the opening of the gallery in Soho were particularly risible. The story could have been much tighter and could have dealt with its themes more freshly, much of it is very muddled, painfully predictable and rambling as well as dealt with in a self-indulgent way and paced ploddingly. The characters don't have much personality(excepting DiCaprio's) and very little of Celebrity rings true, the risible scenes being very difficult to take at face value. In conclusion, definitely could have been worse considering the dislike it has but Celebrity personally was a disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox

To start with, I'm not a Woody Allen fan. In fact I can't stand him or his work so I would have passed on this had I known he was involved. I was focused on the cast and admired everyone there with the exception of Kenneth Branagh so again another disappointment, that out of all that talent, he had the major male role. Being committed I went ahead and tried to watch it but not surprisingly I gave up a third of the way through. It is so typical of an Allen film, especially those of his that are set in New York. If I didn't know better (I actually don't) I'd think that everybody in New York is neurotic and talks extremely fast which only means that Allen has written himself in to yet another role. Not a good idea for diversity but if a director must he ought to consider if his character is likable or not. The only Allen films I've liked were those that he wasn't in or had an Allen like character. Because I didn't finish the film I can't write a proper review but just a warning to those who are not fond of the Allen personality, and there are a lot of us, don't be fooled by the fact that Allen isn't listed as a cast member. He sent Branagh in his stead.

A lot of people like this film - and indeed, I suppose it could be argued that there are a number of things that work in its favour - however, for me, it is easily the worst Woody Allen film that I have so far seen, and I own 28 of them. Call it a matter of personal taste, but the main problem I had with the film was the complete lack of interest in any of the characters or the situations that they find themselves in; with Allen creating a shambolic, Fellini inspired freak show filled with grossly caricatured pantomime players parading from one scene to the next with no thought or feeling. When you think about the ideas behind the film, this particular presentation becomes almost genius (albeit, unintentionally so) and should have really led to some wicked satire on the nature of celebrity and the lengths that people will go to in order to maintain it. Unfortunately however, the film fails to build on this premise and becomes disengaging; largely because it has absolutely nothing of interest to say!I suppose if it was simply Allen's intention to truly capture the sense of vapid, empty malaise of celebrity life in a way that created a similar feeling for even the most inattentive of viewers, then he certainly succeeded with this; creating a film in which pretentious, narcissistic characters wander from one improbable scenario to the next, continually complaining about the dissatisfaction of their personal lives and relationships, whilst never quite seeming to realise that their actual problems are really a result of their own repugnant, self-infatuated personalities. One of his more recent films, Melinda and Melinda (2004) suffered from some similar problems - with the idea of affluent, well-to-do characters complaining about how hard life is from the comfort of their Park Avenue penthouses really crippling the identifiable elements of the drama - but even then, Allen was able to offer at least some level of technical invention and an approach to the story that was interesting and unique. Here, the style is generic and unadventurous as we follow Branagh's self-infatuated and highly deluded writer/journalist and part time Allen-caricature from one assignment to the next, usually resulting in a comic seduction of an incredibly attractive woman, and a lot of talk about his supposedly great, unfinished novel.Unsurprisingly, the lack of focus and Allen's inability to put his ideas into context or character, results in a difficult film that is sometimes "OK", and other times woefully embarrassing. I understand Allen's ultimate intention and what he was trying to achieve with both the film and the characters, but for the episodic plot to really work he had to offer us some original insights, moments of imagination and a series of larger than life characters that were truly iconic. There's nothing here that is as unique, exciting and exotic as something like Nights of Cabiria (1957) or La dolce vita (1960), two films that Celebrity (1998) seems most heavily indebted to; with the characters generally trying to outdo one another in terms of bland pontification, snobbery and self-delusion. Certainly, I can understand why some viewers would enjoy the film - the cinematography is impeccable, there are some definite laugh out loud moments and some fine supporting performances from the talented and eclectic cast - however, there's nothing here that hasn't already been said before in far greater films such as Manhattan (1979), Stardust Memories (1980) and Husbands and Wives (1992), to name just three.Both Branagh and Davis are terrible as the divorced couple central to the narrative, with both actors employing the usual quirks and ticks of Allen's regular on-screen persona in their own delivery and mannerisms, with Branagh in particular trying to "act" the part of Woody Allen, albeit, with none of the comic timing or genuine feeling of self-deprecation. Davis is just as bad - woefully over-the-top and shouting her lines in a way that was at least fitting when she played the same part in Husbands and Wives - whilst the scene in which her character and Bebe Neuwirth's prostitute perform Fellatio on a pair of bananas is cringe-worthy and really beneath a filmmaker of Allen's great stature. Many of the other members of the cast are fine however, including Charlize Theron as a seductive supermodel, Leonardo DiCaprio as the typically hedonistic Hollywood trouble-maker, Joe Mantegna as Davis' sensitive love-interest and Famke Janssen as one of Branagh's numerous bedroom companions; but ultimately the lack of an interesting central character is a real handicap that severely affects the impact of the film.Ten years on, and Celebrity still remains one of Allen's most difficult and polarising works, and a close relation to Deconstructing Harry (1997) in terms of dissenting critical opinion amongst long term fans and admirers. For me, it is simply a film that I didn't enjoy on any level; whilst the people that did like it probably liked it for the reasons that I failed to connect with it. I suppose there are some individual factors that are interesting enough in their own right, however, for me it simply felt like Allen repeating himself; going over the same old themes and scenarios that he'd already expressed in far greater films and creating something sluggish and lazy. I'd still rank him as possibly the greatest living American filmmaker, simply off the strength of the films that he produced in the 70's and 80's, but this is surely a middling, or perhaps even mediocre effort by anyone's standards?