Celebrity
starring: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Melanie Griffith, Joe Mantegna
directed by: Woody Allen
directed by: Woody Allen
You Pay Only: $9.99
Prices subject to change.Availability: unknown
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780788815782
Format: Closed-captioned, Black & White, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0788815784
Label: Miramax
Manufacturer: Miramax
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: Miramax
Region Code: 1
Release Date: August 10, 1999
Running Time: 113 minutes
Sales Rank: 12750
Studio: Miramax
Theatrical Release Date: November 20, 1998
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Editorial Review:
Description:
With an incredible all-star cast, this critically acclaimed comedy takes a hysterical look at the pleasures and pitfalls of fortune and fame! Following their divorce, the lives of a restless writer and his inhibited ex-wife take off in outrageously unpredictable directions! While Lee (Kenneth Branagh -- HAMLET, OTHELLO) explores the wilder side of his newfound freedom, Robin (Judy Davis -- DECONSTRUCTING HARRY) begins an improbable transformaiton from neurotic schoolteacher to high-profile T.V. talk show host! Whether it's partying with supermodels, sexy encounters with movie stars, or interviews with the cream of high society, CELEBRITY offers you a riotous excuse to rub shoulders with the kind of people we all love to celebrate!
Amazon.com:
Woody Allen's portrait of the celebrity life--as seen through the eyes of a newly divorced couple--is a black-and-white, New York-style La Dolce Vita that's a chillier flip side to Allen's earlier New York valentine, Manhattan. Despite a few missteps, though, it's an admirable (if dark) and worthy addition to the Allen pantheon. Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis (both boasting American accents) star as the once-marrieds, each struggling to build new, separate lives in a media-saturated, celebrity-driven world. He tries his hands at celebrity profiles (while peddling a screenplay to any star that will listen) and falls into the lap of a bosomy starlet (Melanie Griffith), the first in a long line of briefly attainable women. She runs into a producer (Joe Mantegna) who offers her a job as a TV personality as well as a loving relationship. This seemingly simple double plot is punctuated with twists and turns in the form of flashbacks and innumerable side trips, all ravishingly photographed in black and white by the legendary Sven Nykvist, and populated by one of Allen's largest casts ever; if you blink you'll miss countless cameos by Isaac Mizrahi, Donald Trump, Hank Azaria, and a host of others.
While Davis is splendid as usual (aside from the requisite nervous breakdown scene she's done one too many times), somebody should have told Branagh to put a kibosh on his Woody Allen imitation, which is so impeccable as to become irritating. His failure in the role, however, isn't entirely his fault, as it's also another in a long line of unlikable male protagonists that Allen has created, as if daring audiences to hate his main characters after loving them in such movies as Manhattan and Annie Hall. He's never more unlikable than in a painful sequence in which he tags along with a spoiled, temperamental teen idol (a shrewd and clever Leonardo DiCaprio) and proves himself the quintessential noodge. Far more enjoyable misadventures with Branagh include Charlize Theron in the film's best performance as a libidinous supermodel with a penchant for echinacea; a stunning Famke Janssen as a successful book editor Branagh almost moves in with; and Winona Ryder, acting like an adult for the first time, as an aspiring actress who catches Branagh's eye more than once. All manage to slip through Branagh's fingers by the end of the film.
Despite the film's lack of focus, Allen aficionados will want this film for at least two wonderful moments, one in which Davis seeks solace from a streetwise fortune teller after she's fleeing her own wedding, and a beautiful nighttime scene in which Branagh romances a captivated Ryder at a subway kiosk. Both episodes prove that Allen, despite the fitful period he's moved into, still has that movie magic. --Mark Englehart
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- The flimsiness of celebrityhoodThis wry and devastating portrait of the cult of celebrityhood is one of Allen's most brilliant--and ... Read More
Rating:
- One of Woody's best, and most under appreciated films.."Celebrity" is one of Woody's best, and most under appreciated and also unjustly attacked films. The ... Read More
Rating:
- Redux, ReduxThe Chinese have their years named after various animals. Apparently this year for me is the Year of ... Read More
Rating:
- Not One Of Woody's BestThis film included many of our best actors: they were great. However, the script lacked some of the ... Read More
Rating:
- Above Average--Slightly. Celebrity is a movie more good than bad as it has a certain visual appeal that most of Woody's later ... Read More
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