Word: allen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...film is shot in black and white. Slushy modern day New York has been transformed into a holiday world of sunglasses and starry skies, nightclubs and fast sportscars. In this glamorous atmosphere, it is easy to understand, if not defend, the famous name game that almost every American plays. Allen feeds the audience with pieces of the very game at which he pokes fun by casting real life bignames as fictitious big names...
...time the final credits roll, it is apparent that the sloppy film never builds up to anything more than two hours of very timely silliness. The scenes have no reasons for being where they are; they could easily be reshuffled to produce a different film of similar merit. However, Allen does deserve credit for being more clever than most modern day filmmakers...
Throughout the film, Lee runs about, repeatedly pushing one lady friend aside to make room for the next. Just as Lee never settles down with any one of his companions, Allen also flits about, refusing to stick to any element of the film long enough to develop it into an integral part of a complex structure...
...Allen seems to achieve some personal vengeance through this film as well. Robin, at the insistence of her best friend, goes to Dr. Lupus, a corpulent celebrity plastic surgeon. Dr. Lupus has plenty of suggestions for Robin, asking her, "Why should you be anything less than perfect?" Robin looks disarmingly like Mia Farrow, with wavy hair and a disheveled Cantabrigian fashion sense. Things aren't looking too good for Robin; she has just been dumped (not for her daughter, though), and she can't quite seem to figure out how to attend cocktail parties and remain sober for more than...
Celebrity is different from Allen's previous works in other ways, too. Celebrity is certainly his most gentile film to date. The word "bagel" is uttered only once. The only scene with rabbis in it features the yarmukled men trapped in a room with a group of teenage skin-heads. Most of the film is shot in locations besides those that are usually featured in Allen's stories; now characters are uprooted, on the streets, at parties, in movies, and so forth...