Celebrity Image
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 10 Ratings

  • Starring: Kenneth Branagh
  • Summary: Woody Allen examines America's fascination with fame and glamour.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 25
  2. Negative: 7 out of 25
  1. 80
    Celebrity is one of Woody Allen’s finest. This is a minority opinion….But I prefer Allen when he works in a minor key – “Broadway Danny Rose,” “Radio Days” --precisely because he’s not trying to be profound, only true to firsthand observation.
  2. Woody Allen's new film has a few shortcomings but it's a heartfelt cry from what may be the last serious man left in the America as he contemplates what his native land has become.
  3. Ms. Davis gets to deliver the film's obvious message in a single unremarkable line: ''You can tell a lot about a society by who it chooses to celebrate.'' But most of what you can tell from the fun-house mirrors of Celebrity is what you already know.
  4. 30
    Self-indulgent wallow in privileged malaise.

See all 25 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. StephenL.
    8
    almost all of woody's movies are excellent , interesting and more fun to watch than 90% of what's out there. 100 years from now Woody Allen will still be highly regarded but no one will remember the pompous critics such as Charles Taylor who look down on him. Expand
  2. Being such a big Woody Allen fan, I must confess that my opinion of his films may be skewed a bit. I can tell a bad film from a good film, but the worst, well let's not say worst, he does have a couple of bad ones, but on the ones that are considered bad I see as being just okay, not as bad as some may say. Celebrity is that type of film. Celebrity is what I would say a pretty loose film, that is to say there isn't a straight story. It follows writer Lee Simmons, it's an Allen film so you have to expect to see at least one writer of some sorts, played by Kenneth Branagh as he encounters a number of actors and models for the magazine he works with. As I said before the story is really loose, so we just act as witnesses to his encounters with these people, but it gives us a good portrait of what their lives are like and how crazy and spontaneous they can be and some of them just drag them along for the hell of it. One example is a ten minute segment where Leonardo DiCaprio, a young hot headed actor character, encounters Lee and whisks him off to Atlantic City to see a boxing fight. And then Lee has the opportunity to sleep with Leo's character and two other women. That's just one of the Lee's encounters with the showbiz world we see. There are many others. And while all the Lee story is happening, we follow Lee's ex-wife, played by one of Allen's regulars Judy Davis, as she tries to fix her life after the divorce. She also has a number of encounters with the showbiz world as she gets a job at a TV station. Overall i think the film is okay. Branagh can get a little overbearing as he tries to work with the Allen persona, but i think the situations and the number of cameos, including Hank Azaria, director Greg Mottola, J.K. Simmons, Charlize Theron, and Donald Trump even, make up for it and make the film somewhat enjoyable. It's not Allen's worse, not his best, but fits pretty snugly in the middle.
    3/5 C, C+
    Expand
  3. 4
    While the depictions of celebrities are pretty spot on, this film is meandering and largely devoid of laughs or enough bite to truly have the impact of the film it emulates (La Dolce Vita). Celebrity is like listening to an old man ramble for hours. Expand
  4. JohnC.
    2
    Woody Allen's personna does not translate to Kenneth Branagh. With Allen, you buy into it because of his physical appearance. With Branagh, you just figure he's insane. Packed with pointlesss dialog, and stars who wouldn't have dreamed of appearing in this if Allens name wasn't on it. Expand

See all 5 User Reviews

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