Movie Notes: Celebrity

July 13th, 2009

= 1 star

Starring Kenneth Branagh, Winona Ryder, Judy Davis
Directed by Woody Allen

Synopsis

Writer Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh) and Robin (Judy Davis) get divorced. Lee struggles to worm his way into the entertainment industry any way possible, while his wife finds success in her own way.

The Good

• A fair point about the ridiculous nature of celebrity, where some are famous for being famous with little talent to speak of. Overall, it’s done in an occasionally brilliant black and white style, featuring crowded, claustrophobic rooms and Allen’s favorite Felliniesque characters aggressively filling the frame.
• Judy Davis is solid, playing a much warmer character than in previous Allen films. Leonardo DiCaprio has one barn-burstingly frenzied sequence as a temper-prone, self-absorbed actor. Also amusing are smaller roles filled out by Charlize Theron, Famke Jannsen, and Winona Ryder.

The Bad

• Kenneth Branagh plays Lee rather untransparently as a Woody Allen “surrogate” character, firing off neurotic, Allen-esque lines that all come across rather annoying and juvenile. I’d say it’s bad acting choices on Branagh’s part, and sadly, nearly sinks the entire film.
• Way too long for its simple point: by film’s end, it’s all chalked up to a simple four letter word that starts with “L” — and it’s not “love” or “help.”
• A character visits a psychic palm reader for help, further reliance on the occult / magic theme of Allen’s work: Alice, Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, Shadows And Fog, Scoop…
• Please watch La Dolce Vita instead.

Conclusion

I had a hard time with Celebrity, mostly because of its distasteful chararcters — but I reserve the largest amount of annoyance for the director that put together this rarely enlightening and often tedious freak show. Skip it.

Next Woody Allen Movie: Sweet And Lowdown
Previous Woody Allen Movie: Deconstructing Harry

IMDB: Celebrity
Wikipedia: Celebrity
Rotten Tomatoes: Celebrity 39%