Everybody Famous

Dominique Deruddere has managed to uncover the flemish spirit with 'Iedereen beroemd!'. The actors do a great job and the story is very touching. 'Iedereen beroemd!' ranks very high among my all-time favorite belgian movies! a must-see for anyone who is in the mood for a charming tale of the love between a father and a daughter and the dreams they both have. Simply brilliant!

When I saw this movie in avant-première, I had never heard of it before. But it soon swept me away. At first the story develops a bit like a Flemish version of "The Commitments" or "The Full Monty", but soon, the plot thickens. The second half of the movie is a great mix of action, TV-coverage of this action and comments on this coverage that can rival with "Natural Born Killers". When leaving the theater you know that news doesn't happen, it's made by the media and big producers.

All the while, there is still more than enough room for good character-development and humor. And by avoiding situations which are too Belgian or Dutch to be understood by others, the story can be fully enjoyed by everybody, making this a production that isn't dwarfed by big international productions.

This film was reccomended to me by some Belgian people I talk to on the net, they said it was one of the best to come out of their country so I decided to check it out. All in all, I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It's not entirely original, but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for with it's ability to charm and entertain. I don't want to give away too much of it, but the story mainly revolves around fame and the desire to achieve it. Of course, it's always much harder for some, more so than others; mainly those who aren't blessed with the looks, or all of the talent. "Everybody's Famous" is one of those rare, truly "feel good" films that don't come around too often. Hollywood often tries to make films like this, but often fall flat by making it too cutesy. One thing I don't understand about this movie is how it ever got rated "R"... were the ratings board members drunk or asleep the day they rated this movie? There's no bad language in it, and only a brief amount of (non-explicit) nudity. So, if you're wondering if it's appropriate for the younger crowd, I would definately reccomend it for them; it should've been rated PG-13. The bottom line is, if you appreciate charming, feel-good flicks about the various struggles in life, then you'll love this. It was also nice to see that this film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2001 (Best Foreign Language Film).

I was in a very down mood when I went out, and this film turned me right around! Sweet and silly, (but not cloying or obviously sentimental) this film is very-well built beneath its light profile. I'm very impressed with the many decisions that must have been made to result in a film this subtle, well-balanced and delightful. Plot and characters seemed familiar at first but the film almost immediately distinguished itself with well-observed, small details of character and setting; unexpected and delightfully absurd plot twists; and the excellent, natural performances by all. All the characters had charm and a subtle full-dimensionality that's particularly refreshing these days in comedies... from the central family members --Father, Marva, Mother-- down to even the smallest roles that function like seasoning (like the bartender, and the stone-faced assistant to debbie's manager.) Characters that might have been left as stereotypes in other films (like Willy, Debbie, and her manager) surprised me with more complex -- but still believable -- behavior later in the story. Unobtrusive editing and appropriately bright/naturalistic visual aesthetic and cinematography make for an easy, pleasurable viewing experience that has left me with plenty to replay in my mind. US viewers who haven't traveled in Europe may not "get" the pop-music industry/TV details portrayed, and I'm sure there are cultural in-jokes that I missed, but I was never less than fascinated from start to finish.

"Iedereen beroemd" isn't Deruddere's best movie (check out "Crazy love" to see that) but it was nominated for an Oscar and that already is a great historyfact in Belgian moviemaking. Deruddere is the sort of leading new wave directors over here as since decades most Belgian movies are just adaptions from old Belgian novels but with this movie Dominique can claim that he reached the brilliance of Ken Loach... What we get here is laughing with the common people... A simple father (superbly played by Josse De Pauw) believes in his overweighted daughter that one day she will be famous (the girl cant sing and at local contests she tries to imitate Madonna). We all see it's a lost case till Jean (Josse De Pauw) decides to kidnap Belgium's most fave singer...he asks no money but the manager must write a hittune for his daughter... Hilarious at times, unbelievable at others but this is great to see.