| | | A funny look at people who will do anything to get famous... or stay famous.
Features: DVD, Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
A hilarious look at the phenomenon of fame and infamy, Celebrity features Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet), Judy Davis (Deconstructing Harry), Winona Ryder (Alien: Resurrection) and Joe Mantegna (Up Close and Personal). Cameo appearances are also made by a dazzling array of celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Melanie Griffith, Hank Azaria, Famke Janssen, Bebe Neuwirth and Charlize Theron. Branagh and Davis star as Lee and Robin Simon, a married couple whose lives take a decidedly different turn once they divorce. While Lee continues his career as a reporter assigned to cover the hottest people in New York, Robin is lost in a vague malaise while she comes to grips with her new situation. From sexual escapades to talk show hosting, they each travel down a hysterical path paved with super-models, movie stars and the kind of people everyone loves to "celebrate".
DVD Features:
Mono
Chapter Search
1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
"Uproarious! One of the year's best!" USA Today
"[Judy] Davis is... incredibly good. " Leonard Maltin
Editor's Note
Woody Allen's star-studded CELEBRITY skewers America's fascination with fame and glamour. Kenneth Branagh stars as Lee Simon, a travel writer who also interviews celebrities when he's not working on his novel and screenplay--or at least talking about writing them. As he hangs out more and more with supermodels and actresses, living the so-called good life, he ends his 16-year marriage to Robin (the marvelous Judy Davis). The split nearly sends Robin off the deep end until she meets Joe Gardella (Joe Mantegna), a television producer who introduces her to a whole new world.Allen shoots the film in black-and-white as if to take some of the gleam off the lives of these celebrities, many of whom are famous for just being famous. When Robin starts working for Joe, she is responsible for overseeing the talent--the kind of people who regularly appear on such shows as JERRY SPRINGER, looking for their moment in the spotlight. Even a television preacher has religious groupies who yearn for autographs. It is interesting to note that Allen wrote and directed CELEBRITY at a time when his own fame was reaching a crescendo because of his own personal problems, which became so much tabloid fodder; that is perhaps why he does not appear in the film, instead having Branagh speak the offbeat, cynical, funny lines that the Woodman himself usually delivers.
Plot Summary
Lee Simon is a journalist roaming from one celebrity encounter to the next, all the while trying to pitch his screenplay and come to terms with his recent divorce from his wife, Robin. Director Woody Allen's dissection of modern celebrity culture features supporting parts by stars Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Melanie Griffith, as well as cameos by Donald Trump and Isaac Mizrahi.
| Features | Scene Access | | Widescreen Version | | English Dolby Mono |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Buena Vista |
| Release Date: 4/10/2009 |
| Running Time: 113 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1998 | | Catalog ID: 17249 | | UPC: 00717951002426 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Memorable Quotes| "He's very pretentious, one of those...who shoots all his films in black and white."----Joe Gardella (Joe Mantegna) to Robin (Judy Davis), referring to John Papadakis (Andre Gregory) | | "He's in New York shooting an adaptation of a sequel of a remake."----Joe to Robin | | "I don't usually drool in my date's salad."----Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh) to the Supermodel (Charlize Theron) | | "You can learn a lot about a society by who it chooses to celebrate."----Robin to the Psychic (Aida Turturro) |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"...[A] keenly observant spoof of the fame game..." 11/26/1998 p.131-2Entertainment Weekly
"...Allen's surest instincts about the title subject are at work in the high-profile cast....[DiCaprio ends up] juicing the movie with a welcome power surge..." 12/04/1998 p.68 Film Comment
"...[Allen] wields a double-edged satirical scalpel when it comes to the pretensions of the beautiful and famous..." 11/01/1998 p.55 New York Times
"...Mr. Allen shows a keenly acerbic eye for the scene he sets..." 11/20/1998 p.E22 Chicago Sun-Times 0 of 10
Celebrity plays oddly like the loose ends and unused inspirations of other Woody Allen movies; it's sort of a revue format in which a lot of famous people appear onscreen, perform in the sketch Woody devises for them and disappear. Some of the moments are very funny... Like all of Allen's films, it's smart and quirky enough that we're not bored... - Roger Ebert
Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 0 of 10
Branagh becomes Woody Allen in this rambling look at a neurotic N.Y. magazine writer, his messed-up love life and career. Allen is coasting here, with an attractive cast, some amusing moments but nothing to say. Davis is, as always, incredibly good. - Leonard Maltin
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