Celebrity (1998)
Directed by Woody Allen
The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment journalist. His assignments take him to the swankiest corners of Manhattan, but as he jumps from one lavish party to another and engages in numerous empty romances, he starts to doubt the worth of his work. Meanwhile, top TV producer Tony falls for Robin and introduces her to the world of celebrity.
3 connections found
View:
3 films that influenced Celebrity
What critics say influenced Celebrity
It's La dolce vita soured by '90s pop-culture clichés and Allen's mean-spirited imagination (his satiric eye and savvy are on the level of Entertainment Tonight).
The black-and-white cinematography, the metropolitan setting, and the subject matter bring to mind the wondrous La Dolce Vita, but the comparison is a pale one indeed.
This big, muddled, contemporary variation on La Dolce Vita, shot in breathtaking black and white by Sven Nykvist, contrasts the up-escalator and down-escalator rides of journalist Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh, out-Woodying Woody in mannerisms, but why?), and his neurotic ex-wife, Robin (Allen's favorite wounded she-wolf, Judy Davis), a former literature teacher.
If writer/director Allen's Deconstructing Harry was a sour rehash of Wild Strawberries, the even more jaundiced Celebrity (notwithstanding Sven Nykvist 's lustrous b/w camerawork) could be his La Dolce Vita.
Apparently inspired by Fellini's La Dolce Vita and a year's subscription to People magazine -- not to mention his own travails -- writer-director Allen revels in the flashy, trashy world of misplaced acclaim and self-absorbed behavior.
Think Woody Allen and Celebrity (and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion ).
How likely is it that a travel writer is going to have the opportunity to interview a world famous actress like Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith, Lolita ), and then get a blow job from her? Likeliness doesn't matter -- this is Allen's adolescent fantasy.