The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment journalist. His assignments take him to the swankiest corners of Manhattan, but as he jumps from one lavish party to another and engages in numerous empty romances, he starts to doubt the worth of his work. Meanwhile, top TV producer Tony falls for Robin and introduces her to the world of celebrity.
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Reviews
Powerful
Perfect cast and a good story
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh) is a womanizing celebrity journalist. He flirts with Nola (Winona Ryder) and movie star Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith) trying to pitch her his screenplay. He had divorced his teacher wife Robin (Judy Davis) after 16 years of marriage. She is stressed out and goes to a religious retreat. He follows model (Charlize Theron) and crashes his car. He starts dating Bonnie (Famke Janssen). Robin goes to plastic surgeon Dr. Lupus and meets TV producer Tony Gardella (Joe Mantegna). While Lee's life slowly crumble, Robin finds new life in the celebrity world herself.Kenneth Branagh is mimicking Woody Allen except the comedy doesn't transfer completely. There is something about Woody's nerdy jitteriness that is inherently funny. Branagh isn't a comedian. Add to the fact that this is in black and white, this feels like an inferior shadow of better Woody Allen movies. There are lots of celebrity cameos in the cast but I can't get rid of the feeling that this is an empty Hollywood shell. I guess that's part of the point. It has some funny moments but not really enough.
Review: I really couldn't get into this movie. Kenneth Branagh's babbling, fake American ancient was really annoying and the back and forth storyline wasn't that great. I did have high hopes for the film after seeing the cast, but once again, I was terribly let down with the outcome. Basically the movie is about a journalist who has just broken up from wife, after many years of marriage and he decides to play the field and make the most out of his single life. After falling in and out of love with many different beautiful women, he struggles to complete his novel but he still goes around mingling with the rich and famous. His wife struggles to find herself and after trying many different methods to find pleasure in her life, she ends up with a well known television producer who helps her through her difficult break-up. With all of this material, you would think that the movie would be interesting or, at least, entertaining, but I honestly got bored after a while Branagh's stuttering, which Woody Allen is famous for, really didn't suit his persona. All of the famous people like Charlize Theron, Melanie Griffith and Leonardo DiCaprio, only had brief parts in the movie but when they were on screen, it did make the movie slightly interesting. In all, it's a waste of a great cast and I just found the movie to be a bit of a drag. Disappointing! Round-Up: I'm surprised that Woody Allen still gets these big budgets when he has lost so much money at the box office. He still is highly respected in Hollywood, but I'm really struggling to see why! Anyway, the leading character was a bad choice by the director, but I was impressed with the young DiCaprio and Judy Davis who put in a emotional performance. There are a couple of decent scenes, like when DeCaprio is arguing with his girlfriend and the scenes with Charlize Theron but that was about it. Like many other Woody Allen movies, you have the usual New York backdrop and he chosen to film the whole movie in black and white, for some unknown reason. Anyway, it's not the greatest Woody Allen movie that I have seen and judging by the box office takings, I'm not alone.Budget:$12million Worldwide Gross: $5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into there Woody Allen movies about a journalist who leaves his wife to play the field amongst the stars in Hollywood. 3/10
"Celebrity", along with "Melinda and Melinda" are Woody's two underrated gems. This film pays tribute to Fellini's "8 1/2", along with other avant-garde cinema, down to the gorgeous black and white photography. Kenneth Branaugh plays Lee Simon, a celebrity journalist, who finds himself entangled with different women, using them as stepping stones to get to another one. Judy Davis is Robin, Lee's neurotic ex-wife. Branaugh is essentially playing the Allen role here, but puts his own spin on it making it more than just a caricature, although he does fit the type well. Davis is great as usual, and the all-star ensemble also bring depth and meaning to their portrayals. One of my favorite Allen movies.
The opening scene shows us movie making in the city of New York and Beethoven's 5th is playing.The skywriting says HELP.Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998) steps into the surreal world of famous people.Allen himself isn't seen in this movie.Kenneth Branagh takes his place playing Lee Simon, unsuccessful journalist, wanna-be novelist.But things don't often go his way and his ex-wife Robin (Judy Davis) has more luck in life.Kenneth Branagh, who is a Shakespearian actor really, surprises the viewers with his imitation of Woody.All the manners are there,the stutter, the neuroticism and all.This movie is filled with great celebrities.There's Melanie Griffith (Nicole Oliver), there's Winona Ryder (Nola), there's Charlize Theron (Supermodel), there's Leonardo DiCaprio (Brandon Darrow) and so on.Joe Mantegna does a terrific job playing Tony Gardella.Hank Azaria visits as David.Allen's movie from ten years back was made black and white.That was a good decision.Celebrity is a fine movie that criticizes the world these people live in.All the shallowness and stuff.Woody Allen is a good writer, and even though this isn't his best work it still does have the qualities of a good movie.