Celebrity

Watched Woody Allen's Celebrity, my latest Amazon DVD rental. I ordered it because it's one of the few films of his that I haven't seen (I'm a big fan); I'd heard it wasn't good and wanted to see for myself.
Well, it had its moments, notably L Di Caprio, in a brief cameo as a spoilt movie brat. He's a remarkable talent, and his performance lit up the screen, blowing through the film like a whirlwind, blasting everyone else aside. Most of the women were very good as well, notably Charlize Theron (unrecognisable), and Melanie Griffith, though Judy Davis (brilliant in Deconstructing Harry and Husbands and Wives) seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable.
But the film was dominated by an extremely unfortunate and misjudged performance by Kenneth Branagh, who chose to impersonate WA. The character was obviously intended to be a WA surrogate (its been done before with some success, notably John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway), but his complete lack of credibility overshadowed the film, and basically destroyed it.
The structure was shambolic as well, careering all over the place - a real pity as some scenes were extremely funny. A real shame, as the subject is a sitting target for a coruscating satire, and the WA of a few years earlier would surely have provded it. A missed opportunity.
Still, he returned to form with his next film, Sweet and Lowdown, and I thought Match Point was a wonderfully chilly take on British life.
I've heard that Scoop, his latest film, hasn't found a distributor in the UK, and the US reviews on the IMDB don't look good. Still, he has produced some of the finest films of the last 40 years - Crimes and Misdemeanours is high on my 'Top Ten all-time greats' list.