Product Details

• Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Greg Mottola, Jeff Mazzola
• Directors: Woody Allen
• Writers: Woody Allen
• Producers: Charles H. Joffe, J.E. Beaucaire, Jack Rollins, Jean Doumanian, Letty Aronson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: August 10, 1999
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305470499
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,910 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

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

Product Description

A funny look at people and celecrities who do anything to get or stay famous

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars watch it again-you'll like it, July 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Celebrity (DVD)

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).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why are people mad at this movie?, March 15, 2003

By 

BillyM (AZ, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celebrity [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kenneth as Woody., July 14, 2000

By 

phirefly (Mont Clare, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celebrity [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.