Celebrity

cwburch · 08-19-99, 12:50 PM

“Life is not one damn thing after another” wrote Emily Dickinson, “It’s one damn thing over and over”.

And she never attended a Woody Allen film festival.

Celebrity is Allen’s latest conjuring of the sub-set of Manhattan that is Woody’s World. Perhaps realizing that he is getting too old to play a sympathetic character with such infantile obsessions, Allen asks Kenneth Branagh to step in for him. It seems that Branagh just imitates Allen, failing to bring anything original to the part. He’s a writer on the make for fame, a supermodel, and The Relationship That Will Fulfill His Life. Of course he goes about this in an extremely self-destructive way, which might have been funny 20 years ago, but now is dreadfully repetitious.

There are some genuinely funny moments: Allen still has a great comedic sense, and Woody has some interesting things to say about fame in our culture, but DEJA-OY! We have all been on this bus before!

Woody’s World, which might have seen sophisticated and cosmopolitan at one time, has turned into a small box from which there is no escape. I suppose if you have never seen a Woody Allen film, you might enjoy this one more than I did. But if you’ve never seen a Woody Allen film, there are better places (Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and her Sisters) to start.

Woody: time to start collaborating.

Marcus Daly · 08-19-99, 05:12 PM

Branagh's performance is one of the most GRATING in recent years. Like fingernails on a blackboard. If only "Hannah and Her Sisters" or "Alice" or "Manhattan" or "Love and Death" or anything else were on DVD instead of this.

08-19-99, 12:50 PM	#1
cwburch Senior Member Join Date: Jul 1999 Posts: 366	“Life is not one damn thing after another” wrote Emily Dickinson, “It’s one damn thing over and over”. And she never attended a Woody Allen film festival. Celebrity is Allen’s latest conjuring of the sub-set of Manhattan that is Woody’s World. Perhaps realizing that he is getting too old to play a sympathetic character with such infantile obsessions, Allen asks Kenneth Branagh to step in for him. It seems that Branagh just imitates Allen, failing to bring anything original to the part. He’s a writer on the make for fame, a supermodel, and The Relationship That Will Fulfill His Life. Of course he goes about this in an extremely self-destructive way, which might have been funny 20 years ago, but now is dreadfully repetitious. There are some genuinely funny moments: Allen still has a great comedic sense, and Woody has some interesting things to say about fame in our culture, but DEJA-OY! We have all been on this bus before! Woody’s World, which might have seen sophisticated and cosmopolitan at one time, has turned into a small box from which there is no escape. I suppose if you have never seen a Woody Allen film, you might enjoy this one more than I did. But if you’ve never seen a Woody Allen film, there are better places (Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and her Sisters) to start. Woody: time to start collaborating.

08-19-99, 05:12 PM	#2
Marcus Daly Member Join Date: Apr 1999 Location: NY, NY Posts: 137	Branagh's performance is one of the most GRATING in recent years. Like fingernails on a blackboard. If only "Hannah and Her Sisters" or "Alice" or "Manhattan" or "Love and Death" or anything else were on DVD instead of this.