CELEBRITY (61)

Directed by: Woody Allen

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Winona Ryder, Leonardo DiCaprio

The Pitch: A sleazy journalist seeks to ingratiate himself with a procession of New York glitterati.

Theo Sez: Two words : 114 minutes. Woody's longest-ever movie occasionally feels like it, though the highlights - especially DiCaprio's frenzied exhibition of malign charisma - work very well. It understands the lure of glamour - an escape from 'ordinary people', their bovine wives and undistinguished lives - but cautions against the hubris of presuming you can remain intact : our hero's condescending attitude towards celebrity, thinking he can use showbiz without (of course) equating it with the noble art of book-writing (just as he misguidedly believes he can "control" Ryder's free-spirited gamine), leads to his destruction ; the only way to survive celebrity is to give yourself up to it completely, as the Judy Davis character finally does (even if Davis is too strong an actress to make this entirely convincing), marvelling that "I've become the kind of person I've always loathed - and I'm happier this way!". It's the kind of mordant message you might expect from this (by all accounts) very private man, resisting celebrity for all he's worth - it's no surprise that one of his recurring gags involves a couple having an argument in front of (oh, the embarrassment!) complete strangers, the furniture movers here joining a list stretching from the cinema queue in ANNIE HALL to Kirstie Alley's patient in DECONSTRUCTING HARRY. The film's sharp and lively, evoking a world where anyone can be a celebrity (celebrity priests, doctors, weathermen, hookers), though there's clearly a wagging finger behind this tale of a society that's "taken a wrong turn", lost and looking for something to believe in - which is a shame, for Woody never seems quite himself when he's preaching. It is of course his DOLCE VITA, even kicking off in similar fashion (a plane sky-writing "Help" as opposed to a helicopter towing a Jesus statue) : the difference is that, in the Fellini, that was a reference to Dante's "Inferno" - whereas here it's just a reference to Fellini.