Celebrity (1998)

Not One Of Woody's Best
This film included many of our best actors: they were great. However, the script lacked some of the juice of Mr. Allan's better films.

Above Average--Slightly.
Celebrity is a movie more good than bad as it has a certain visual appeal that most of Woody's later films lack. I read in an Allen biography that he tried to stop Kenneth Branagh from impersonating him on set. Unfortunately, he wasn't persuasive enough as Branagh's performance was more a caricature of Woody than anything else. As for Judy Davis, who I like in practically everything, she is misused. Her personality is more exaggeration than person. It seems to me that Allen cleaved off various neuroses from his own personality, and then evenly distributed them to the male and female leads. There's just not a whole lot of depth to this film. It fails to teach us anything that is not blatantly obvious, but it certainly was entertaining. Enjoyment alone is why I give it three stars.

Deconstructing show business
" Celebrity " is one of the best movies in these ten last years of Allen's cinematographic career, a devastating look to the hidden side of the show business and fashion and their cosmetic creations, this is, the world of celebrities. A corrosive satire that goes deep into the anaemic cultural situation of U.S.A and that Allen closes with this very explicit message above the heads of their citizens: Help !!! Shot in a splendid b&w by swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist the film declares openly one of the most painful worries of Allen: the current political and cultural situation of his country and underlined recently to the european press: " The american from U.S.A. is an artificial man victim of his own culture " A worry, for other part, that can be extrapolated to other parts of West.

Widescreen edition.