Celebrity
Miramax Films | Release Date: November 20, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
13
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
L.A. WeeklyF. X. Feeney
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. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverJimmy Fowler
Here Branagh and his writer-director have managed something more haunting than town-square self-flagellation: they've created a man whose appetites will always be greater than his abilities. And for an artist like Woody Allen, who possesses plenty of both, there can be no scarier fate on the planet. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Allen's canniest hire of all is Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays a bratty, destructive young star, juicing the proceedings with a power surge that subsides as soon as he exits. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie's shot in black and white; Allen is one of the rare and valuable directors who sometimes insists in working in the format that is the soul of cinema. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It is a recognized truth of the movie industry that even the best film makers will have disappointments, and, for Woody Allen, Celebrity fits into that category. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
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. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
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. Read full review
60
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It is this sense of real life blurring with make-believe that Allen's film is really playing with, like a kitten toying with a scared mouse. Back and forth he bats the subject, moving between reality, illusion and the imitation of reality with a deft touch that may bruise but never kills. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The idea of a Woody Allen movie about fame is enticing, but a meandering screenplay and uninspired acting make this one of his thinnest, tinniest films. Read full review
50
NewsweekAndrea C. Basora
Shot in crisp black and white, this homage to "La Dolce Vita" nonetheless lacks the charm and energy of Fellini's farcical original. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Suffers from lulls and lapses and one lulu of a casting gaffe, but this keenly observant spoof of the fame game is hardly the work of a burnout. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
It would be easy to dismiss Celebrity as merely a wafer-thin picture about the wafer-thinness of our narcissistic culture. But the truth is shallower and even less engaging -- this flick should have been called “Unpleasantville.” Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
If your tolerance for Branagh's shtick and Woody's narrowness of focus is as low as mine, you can take solace in the director's joke on himself. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
This is middling Woody, at best: For every funny line or sequence, there's at least one misfire. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The hero's restlessness infects the rest of the movie; the story feels febrile and unhappy, and Allen seems to take his dissatisfaction out on his helpless characters--especially the women. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Woody Allen at his most inconsequential and insubstantial; don't expect to remember this black-and-white throwaway of comic sketches five minutes after it's over. Read full review
40
SalonCharles Taylor
When has Woody Allen ever been interested in anything besides Woody Allen? He has no interest in bringing out new sides of his actors. Jim Henson's casts had more spontaneity. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
The spectacle of Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis doing over-the-top Woody Allen impersonations creates a neurotic energy meltdown in Celebrity, a once-over-lightly rehash of mostly stale Allen themes and motifs. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
Purportedly a seriocomic contemplation on a civilization that's lost its way, the movie jabs at America's fascination with its false idols without ever hitting its target. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Scattered, phlegmatic and an all-around weak effort, Celebrity turns out instead to be one of Allen's periodic misfires. Read full review
30
SlateDavid Edelstein
I found the movie cheap, muddled, and thoroughly devoid of insight. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Self-indulgent wallow in privileged malaise. Read full review
20
Film ThreatRon Wells
I can't really remember the last time I saw a movie with this much biting satire and brilliance that was utterly excruciating half the time. Read full review
20
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Celebrity is a waste, a tedious and depressingly routine film by a filmmaker on a steep, possibly permanent artistic decline. Read full review
20
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The Allen persona has always blurred the distinction between his art and his life. Still, one would scarcely expect Allen's attempt to satirize daily life in the National Entertainment State to be this tired, sour, and depressed. Read full review
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