Celebrity - Schön, reich, berühmt

I must give Woody Allen credit for one thing: At least he seems to have stopped pretending that every gorgeous woman on earth is standing in line to throw herself at his protagonist. But what has he done instead? He has simply cast Kenneth Branagh in his place as a somewhat younger and more handsome substitute, but one who is, alas, no less frumpy, neurotic, unaccomplished and ultimately dislikable as Allen´s now-stock character has become in recent years. Really, watching Branagh imitate Allen to a "T" may be an interesting idea for a skit, but after about 25 minutes it is painful, and by the end of the film it is downright embarrassing. The Allen theme of "womanizer gets his comeuppance" is by now quite predictable, and this film does not deviate from it one bit. Some of the social satire is clever, as usual, but "Celebrity" ends up dying on the vine because of its wildly improbable insistence that nymphomaniac supermodels and barely-legal literary beauties cannot keep their hands off of a male protagonist who neither exhibits any sort of charisma nor has any kind of achievements to his credit. At least in many earlier Allen movies--and despite this and other recent efforts I am still a big fan of his work as a whole--there was a certain charm and allure to that one-note character of his. But merely inserting Kenneth Branagh to talk and act exactly like Woody Allen was definitely not the solution to the creativity problems which have plagued his films lately.

Judged against other movies, Celebrity rates higher than it does when judged against Woody Allen movies. In other words, the director's consistent pace and huge body of work virtually begs for critics to keep ranking each of Allen's films against past efforts and so on. Celebrity is not as good as Deconstructing Harry or Everyone Says I Love You (to cite just two of Allen's recent pictures), but it still bears the hallmarks of Allen's success: great ensemble work, witty and intelligent writing, amusing set-pieces, and excellent photography. Kenneth Branagh fills in as the Woody character, and channels Allen's vocal tics and mannerisms to the point of perfection or distraction, depending on one's point of view. Judy Davis, a welcome sight in any movie, captures Branagh's ex-wife perfectly. The remainder of the cast aids in Allen's dissection of modern media celebrity, and does what it can with this good, but not great, material.

It is a witty, funny black film in which Kenneth B. plays the best "woody allen" of all times. The direction of photography is traditional compared with his last films.

An excellent satire of celebrities with more believable less neurotic characters than I expect from a woody allen movie. The subtle critics to catholics (instead of jews) are good for a change.

I would recommend this modern classic not only to woody's fans but to anyone who likes independent films.

Besides, the rabbis and skinheads being accidentally put together in a waiting room (and getting along) is something you won't see in anywhere else.

Woody Allen's imagination is endless. Once again he manages to captivate with this very smart and subtle tale of interrelated stories while delivering a very strong punch of social critique. If you are an Allen's fan you will like it, if not... don't bother. This is only a movie for the initiated.

With Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite and Everyone Says I love You, Woodie had strung together a number of very likable and quite funny films. With this and Deconstructing Harry he gets more serious. Too bad. This bilious mess could have used an editor. I think, because he can get so many big stars so easily, he writes too many characters into this film, without the spread-thin script being able to support all of them.