Celebrity (1998)

I'm not one of those absolute Woody Allen haters. Annie Hall is a good, good film. That said, Celebrity is a summation of the worst of Woody Allen Clichés! The adultery, the whining, the self serving nature, and the feeling that the title character SHOULD have your sympathy even though there's no way he could, in a million years earn it, are all here!

Basically this feels like a film that Allen wrote 20 years ago and only just recently dusted off to make. By the time the movie got made Allen was far too old to play the libertine leading role. Undaunted he chose arguably the best actor in film today (Kenneth Branagh) to do a dead on impression of Woody himself. The celebrity cameos and a performance by the incomparable Branagh as the Woody character may cause many to attempt this film. Do not. As a Die-Hard Branagh fan (especially the 1996 HAMLET), I can say I've never been so disappointed in a film of his!

This didn't get my lowest rating, as a few redeeming qualities can be found if you search with a fine tooth comb! Among these are Branagh's dead-on impression of Woody Allen (this is the only film in which I wanted to slap Branagh), Interesting Cameos (Everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Judy Davis to Winona Ryder to Charlize Theron to Hank Azaria to Melanie Griffith to Famke Janssen to Bebe Neuwirth to Sam Rockwell to Jeffrey Wright to J.K. Simmons to Ian Somerhalder is in here somewhere ... and it still can't save this film), and the fact that the detestable main character does ultimately lose in the end and all those that he wronged seem to prosper.

Unfortunately the bad far, far outweighs the good. Make no mistake, this is not a Kenneth Branagh film, it's a substandard Woody Allen movie that should be avoided at all costs!