CELEBRITY (1998) ***1/2

The biggest irony in CELEBRITY is how long it took to be released in Brazil: two years. This is not a common thing here, but it has also happened to DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, SWEET AND LOWDOWN and now SMALL TIME CROOKS. It seems that they have something against Woody Allen and his fans, but in fact it is a problem among the distributors. However, the wait was worthy: CELEBRITY is a great film.

It received bad reviews in the US for no apparent reason- here in Brazil the reviews were almost universally positive. Maybe the critics are tired of Woody Allen, maybe they just didn't get his point. The truth is that CELEBRITY is no ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS or CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, but is a great film overall.

The story is about a divorced couple- Lee and Robin Simon (Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis), who try to find their position in the society. Lee is a journalist who starts to write about art, so he gets closer to celebrities. He gets involved with lots of women- the futile actress Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith) who belongs to her husband only down the neck, a supermodel (Charlize Theron) with an "erotic failure", a cold woman (Famke Janssen) who wants to live with him, and a second rate actress (Winona Ryder) who is not his "obscure object of desire" as he thinks. He is between finish writing his novel (after the bad reviews for his first novel) and trying to sell a script- when he meets another futile star (Leonardo DiCaprio). In resume, his life is a mess with no way-back. In the meantime, his ex-wife Robin, an English teacher, ironically gets more luck than him: she meets a TV producer (Joe Mantegna), who thinks she has a future as a TV presenter.

With a good story in hands, Allen turns it into an acid, funny film. But you know the laughs in his films aren't gratuitous- they come naturally, or depending on the way you get into the scene. And they are also bitter (remember the subtitles scene in ANNIE HALL)- this taste of humor is not for everyone. The funniest, best scene is when the prostitute teaches Davis' character how to do a blow-job, using a banana.

As usual, Allen takes great performances from the whole cast. Kenneth Branagh has been criticized for imitating Woody Allen too much, but I think he did a great job. We already know Judy Davis (especially), Joe Mantegna and Winona Ryder are terrific, but it is a miracle what Allen can do with Melanie Griffith, Leonardo Di Caprio and Charlize Theron, usually bland performers. Charlize is the most peculiar character and delivers a great and funny performance.

The main detail of the film is the use of black-and-white. This is not the first time Allen uses that (MANHATTAN, STARDUST MEMORIES, SHADOWS AND FOG), but it is almost a character in this picture- it shows a world that is even more sufocating than ours. With that, he makes an acid critic about our society, that turns superficial, futile people into instant celebrities. This is not new, of course, but here these people are also victims of the sufocating society. If a society can be interpreted by who it chooses to celebrate, it is worse than it seems to be.

Allen commits some mistakes here and there with his critic, but you don't find many films like this out there- clever, funny, bitter and realistic. Remember the HELP sign on the air...

Like "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Celebrity" leaves it's central character sitting forlornly in a movie theatre, thinking what might have been. Unlike that fine film, however, this is a pretentious and shallow mess that never convinces and is rarely funny. Allen's over-lapping ad-lib dialogue style runs rampant here with little scripted text. It's just as well because the scripted lines sound hack written ("Who knew that angels flew so low?"). Branagh (standing in for Allen and almost imitating his put-upon demeanor and stumble-bum delivery at times) and co-star Judy Davis are both affecting American accents - fake number one. Other stars rush in and out of the picture like they've got plans elsewhere. After the first ten minutes, the audience will feel likewise. Phoney plot contrivances (writer with only one copy of a novel; bride runs from her own wedding) only make matters worse. Final skywriting scene says it all - "HELP"!