ElMaruecan82
Many Allen's fans are surprised at "Celebrity"'s poor ratings and reception. Well, I'm surprised at their surprise.As incongruous as it is to talk about ratings in a film that dismisses critics, I think 6 stars out of 10 is a pretty reasonable appreciation of Allen's attempt to emulate Fellini's masterpiece "La Dolce Vita". It doesn't disqualify everything from "Celebrity" and many moments hit the right chord, but other ones fell desperately flat or annoying, and I don't mean Allen-annoying but annoying-annoying. Yes, I know it's supposed to have that effect, but between Allen's intentions and the finished result, it's up to the viewer to make up his mind. Having done that, I could narrow it down to one double problem: Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis. Bad actions can be fun, bad acting, not so much, not from the lead characters anyway.The film's opening echoes the unforgettable image from "La Dolce Vita" with the plane carrying the Jesus statue with bikini-clad women waving at them. One can also see a good deal of symbolism in a plane skywriting the word 'HELP', but the sequence doesn't let much time for analysis as it immediately introduces the first celebrity played by Melanie Griffith, later approached by Branagh after he's done flirting with another actress played by Winona Ryder. Now, the plane, with the black-and-white photography established the kinship between Allen and Fellini and the rest of the film consists on different encounters with celebrities, all related to archetypal situations, just like Mastroianni's unforgettable journey.Do we learn something about the celebrities' world? Not much but it can be fun, some take luscious poses in bed and make it with the interviewer, other sniff coke, the rest is made of partying, boozing, dancing, banging, to clearly establish the obvious: a world of false sophistication and debauchery that can only sound appealing to someone going through midlife crisis and eager to spice up his life a little. So the problem wasn't much in the episodic structure and the rather absence of plot, the story is as confusing as the mind of a man approaching the forties can get. The problem is in the performances. Basically, the two people who belong to the normal world are those who don't act normally.Indeed, we expect from a sexy and easily aroused top-model (Charlize Theron) to be open-minded in terms of sexual preferences and be concerned about anything that can affect her health or face, because she's under contract with a cosmetic company. We expect from a young coke-addict star, much more with the look of Di Caprio, to handle wife-beating, hotel-room crashing or plural sex as part of common routine, or for a stage starlet not to be in a hurry to belong to somebody. And the celebrities did justice to their cameos. But I didn't think it would happen -and I saw the film twice- I was strongly annoyed by Branagh and Davis.There's a part where Branagh contemplates his age with anxiousness during a prom reunion, if he was as good in the rest of the film as he was in that sequence, "Celebrity" might have been a better experience. In fact, why not just playing it like Mastroianni? He wasn't exceptional but there was a constant boredom or detachment in his eyes, which made him a better foil for the world he was plunging us into. This time, it's Branagh and Davis who make the celebrities look normal by contrast, by both needlessly overplaying their nervousness and anxiety. Basically, Branagh is doing an Allen impression and Judy Davis is playing the same character as in "Husbands and Wives", but it had a point when she was an insecure middle-aged woman left by a good husband, here, there wasn't any psychological set-up to make her hysteria believable.Take one scene where Joe Mantegna asks her out, she hesitates, tries to find the right way to say no, she's good at embodying nervousness, but for such an inhibited character, her anxiety confined to ostensible hysteria, and she was anything but discreet. Take the other scene with the hooker, she's with a woman, one with sexual experience, so the least likely to be shocked, but Davis is again as neurotic as ever, incapable to finish a sentence, stuttering, hesitating, mentioning her 'Catholic education' once again. Seriously, there have been dysfunctional couples in Allen's films but rarely with the two of them being like Davis and Branagh, the latter channeling Allen so shamelessly it makes you wonder why Allen didn't play the role.When Allen plays his usual neurotic guy, he doesn't act, he's just being himself and that's what the film needed, normal people to emphasize the attraction one could have toward the celebrity world, but by playing the two 'straight persons' in such an eccentric way, the film loses its balance and coherence. We don't see in Davis and Branagh a normal couple, but caricatures. And Branagh's role wasn't demanding much, even by underplaying it, it would have worked better than playing the Allenian card and damaging the film's credibility. In the scene where he splits up again with Famke Janssen's character, it's like Jamsen can give acting lessons to the Shakespearian actor. She plays a realistically hurt woman; he's doing a stand-up routine. This was the opportunity for playing an interesting comedic character but there's worse than doing your shtick, it's doing someone else's.Now, the film has its moments, I don't think Allen could make a dull or boring film even if he wanted to, but "Celebrity" doesn't strike as one of his major offerings, and it's not saying much from a director with such a prolific career. And I'm severe for a simple reason, even if I didn't like an Allen film as I expected, I rarely exclude the possibility of watching it again, but here, I can't imagine seeing Davis and Branagh again, and unfortunately, there's not single scene without any of them.
gridoon2018
"Celebrity" rambles seemingly without a purpose for most of its running time; you may wonder why a film that has so little story needed to last 115 minutes. And yet, there are sporadic choice moments / lines / situations in it, like for example the restaurant scene where Branagh meets Ryder again after a long time and tries to start a conversation with her while the other people at their table continue their own talking. Although there is no apparent reason why this film had to be shot in black & white (in fact, in one of the best jokes in the film, a director who always shoots in black and white is called "an arty, pretentious a**hole"!), the cinematography itself is exquisite. There are some pointed jabs on the issue of celebrity; on a more personal note, the final shot of the film is perhaps one of the brightest ideas Allen ever had. Judy Davis stands out in a huge cast, giving an all-out comic performance (some cast members are not used to their full advantage). And Winona Ryder has probably never looked as transcendently, glowingly beautiful as she does in "Celebrity". **1/2 out of 4.
Petri Pelkonen
The opening scene shows us movie making in the city of New York and Beethoven's 5th is playing.The skywriting says HELP.Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998) steps into the surreal world of famous people.Allen himself isn't seen in this movie.Kenneth Branagh takes his place playing Lee Simon, unsuccessful journalist, wanna-be novelist.But things don't often go his way and his ex-wife Robin (Judy Davis) has more luck in life.Kenneth Branagh, who is a Shakespearian actor really, surprises the viewers with his imitation of Woody.All the manners are there,the stutter, the neuroticism and all.This movie is filled with great celebrities.There's Melanie Griffith (Nicole Oliver), there's Winona Ryder (Nola), there's Charlize Theron (Supermodel), there's Leonardo DiCaprio (Brandon Darrow) and so on.Joe Mantegna does a terrific job playing Tony Gardella.Hank Azaria visits as David.Allen's movie from ten years back was made black and white.That was a good decision.Celebrity is a fine movie that criticizes the world these people live in.All the shallowness and stuff.Woody Allen is a good writer, and even though this isn't his best work it still does have the qualities of a good movie.
