Product 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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18938 in DVD
• Brand: Miramax
• Released on: 1999-08-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Black & White, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

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

From The New Yorker
Woody Allen assembles yet another all-star cast; this time, stardom itself is the object of his attention. Kenneth Branagh, trying out a Woody Allen impersonation that makes you want to hide under your seat and cram popcorn in your ears, plays a journalist with an itch. He hops from a rotten marriage with Robin (Judy Davis) to an actress (Melanie Griffith), and from there to a supermodel (Charlize Theron) with erogenous zones all over her body; he then takes up with a book editor of rare beauty (Famke Janssen), whom for some unfathomable reason he discards in favor of another actress (Winona Ryder). The hero's restlessness infects the rest of the movie; the story feels febrile and unhappy, and Allen seems to take his dissatisfaction out on his helpless characters-especially the women. The only moment of joy comes when Robin, corralling the guests for a TV show, sends a rabbi into the same room as a bunch of Klansmen ("Have the skinheads eaten all the bagels already?"). With Michael Lerner, Bebe Neuwirth, Joe Mantegna as a nice guy, and Leonardo DiCaprio as a spoiled brat. Filmed, in black-and-white, by Sven Nykvist. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

watch it again-you'll like it
Why do people keep expecting everything from Woody Allen to be "funny"? Like "Stardust Memories" or any number of his other movies, I would consider "Celebrity" more of a drama than a comedy. Yes, there are funny scenes, but there's more to it, I think. I didn't love the movie on first viewing, but I enjoy it more each time I see it. If you give it a chance and listen to what the director tells Melanie Griffith at the beginning about the "human condition", and how that relates to Kenneth Branagh (who I did NOT find annoying) at the end; and look deeper than Leonardo DiCaprio's small part, I think you'll find more than just jokes (or the absence thereof).

Why are people mad at this movie?
Kenneth Branagh is delightful in this film. Forget about Woody Allen for a moment and appreciate the performance (ask yourself if anyone could have done it better). I couldn't stop laughing! Every line of dialogue in this film is worth catching, Judy Davis is fantastic, and it's just a genuinely entertaining movie. The one star and two star ratings are ridiculous. Typical of arm-chair critics to blast a film when it doesn't fit the expected Allen mold. This is an excellent film, great dialogue, enjoyable plot.

Kenneth as Woody.
While the movie itself was pretty uneventful and seemed to drag, the absolute magnificence of Kenneth Branagh's performance made it worth watching. I think what a couple of previous reviewers may have missed is that the male lead was written by Woody for Woody. He, thankfully, had the wisdom to know he would not be able to believably play that role--with Charlize and Winona falling all over him. So, he got someone else to play him for him. Kenneth does a remarkable Woody Allen. The argument in the park is a prime example. So to the reviewer who said that leading men in Woody Allen films should stop trying to be Woody, please realize that sometimes that is the whole intent, and realizing that can make the whole film richer.