Celebrity

Released 1998
Stars Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Joe Mantegna, Winona Ryder, Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Melanie Griffith, Famke Janssen, Bebe Neuwirth
Directed by Woody Allen
 
"Celebrity" plays oddly like the loose ends and unused inspirations of other Woody Allen movies; it's sort of a revue format in which a lot of famous people appear onscreen, perform in the sketch Woody devises for them and disappear. Some of the moments are very funny. More are only smile material, and a few don't work at all. Like all of Allen's films, it's smart and quirky enough that we're not bored, but we're not much delighted, either. All of his films can't be as good as "Everyone Says I Love You," and this one proves it. The film stars Kenneth Branagh as--there is only one way to put this--Woody Allen. The character is named Lee Simon, but Branagh has all the Allen vocal mannerisms and the body language of comic uncertainty. He does Allen so carefully, indeed, that you wonder why Allen didn't just play the character himself.

Summary by Roger Ebert

I can now say there are two Woody Allen films I don't like--"Scenes From a Mall" and "Celebrity." This could have (and should have) been a wicked satire on the instution of celebrity, but Woody didn't really have anything to say. It had a promising start as several celebrities were depicted as cults of personality: models, athletes, actors, reporters, a tv priest, and even Jesus. Unfortunately it never went anywhere. Watching Kenneth Branagh play Woody didn't help, either. I think Woody should have played the role himself, or rewritten it to create a different character. The latter would have been better, because it was hard enough to believe someone who looks like Branagh could get himself into such situations with one unbelievable woman after another, let alone Woody at his current age. Also, there was no point in having the movie in black and white, except that Woody likes black and white. It did make me notice, however, all of the interracial couples. They were everywhere--at the class reunion, the art gallery, every party, and even Winona Ryder had an interracial, lesbian kiss (ok, that was cool). What was the point? Because the movie was black and white? I couldn't see any other reason for it. --Bill Alward, November 11, 2001