Chaplin

A film about the troubled and controversial life of the master comedy filmmaker Charles Chaplin.

What can I say? This was a really good film. It touched on all the highlights of Chaplin's career, both high and low. And even with the lengthy run time, I feel like it could have been even longer. It had such a great pace and was enjoyable to watch. And the cast. Wow. Milla Jovovich before she blew up? Diane Lane? Very good casting.

Robert Downey Jr nailed it. He has the look, he did the physical comedy, and that had to take a lot of training... the drunk routine, wow! I am so glad that Downey is back on top these days with "Iron Man" and other films. He had a rough patch for a while, but he is far better of an actor than he is generally given credit for.

This film is beautiful and intelligent, if a little ambitious and overlong (2 and a quarter hours). But it is so worth seeing, for the superb Oscar-nominated performance from Robert Downey Junior. The film starts off flawlessly, with beautiful incidental music from John Barry, and a fantastic performance from Geraldine Chaplin, who played her own grandmother.

We also see Fred Karno, robustly played by John Thaw, and Hetty , played by Moira Kelly(who did struggle with the accent). A standout from the supporting cast, was a lively performance from Kevin Kline, who brought some great energy into the role of Douglas Fairbanks. The performances in general are very good indeed, and the film looks ravishing with show stopping costumes and scenery.

However, it is after the death of Fairbanks, that the film starts to drag, and the title characters rapidly turn into a series of vignettes. As much a great actor Anthony Hopkins is, his turn as the fictional autobiographer was perhaps unnecessary. And I was a bit confused why they turned Hoover as a villain who wanted Chaplin out of the country. The ending is poignant, and Moira Kelly does better in her role as Oona.

The end credits were very educational, and the arrangement of Smile was one of my highlights of this beautifully made but ambitious film. Worth watching for those who are a fan of Richard Attenborough (the director) 8/10 Bethany cox

Robert Downey, Jr. gives another one of his splendid performances, Kevin Kline is perfectly cast as Fairbanks, and most of the direction is superb. However, the story hops around a few too many times, and the scenes with Anthony Hopkins are weak and obviously placed in order to clarify things to non- Chaplin fans who watch the film. Overall it is enjoyable, especially the parts when we see him creating his well- known masterpieces. Recommended especially for movie fans, and most especially for Chaplin fans.

This is a great example of a movie I took a chance on one rainy Sunday at a theater in Charlotte, NC., and was highly rewarded with an intriguing look at the life of an early film star set against the background of early Hollywood. I had't heard much buzz about it and didn't really know much about Charlie Chaplin. Downey is amazing in his personification of Chaplin. If you want to expand your horizons and learn a little about the inside workings of the film industry from circa World War I thru the 50's, this award-winning movie comes highly recommended.

Chaplin isn't really a great bio-pic, but there are moments when Richard Attenborough's direction shines and it's consistently got an amazing Robert Downey Jr. performance as the title character. In fact, this is the kind of movie where the lead actor is so important that some of the major enjoyment and success of the film rests on him/her, oddly enough since it is a varied and superlative ensemble. There are moments when Attenborough's grandiosity gets in the way, and the moments that mark it as being somewhat conventional. What made me pleasantly surprised is what Attenborough *did* decide to show with Chaplin the private man; I thought that he would cut out much of the stuff with Chaplin's penchant for young (usually underage) girls, or some of the things regarding his mother, but most of the notorious facts are put in for good measure to counter-balance some of the pompous, though fascinating, scenes of "cinematic history."

Now as a fan of Chaplin's films and the given acknowledgment that he's one of the most talented comic actors and filmmakers of the 20th century, I do get a little choked up seeing that final clip-show at the Oscars of great clips from his most famous movies. And it's interesting always, from just a movie-buff stand-point, to watch the history behind Chaplin's transition from vaudeville to Max Senett's film company to slowly becoming an independent and world-famous auteur/star. But for the most part the writing and the direction make it entertaining just on that conventional, rise-fall-rise-fall-struggle-success-at-end story with maybe less drugs and a bit more politics than one might usually see (save for one fantastic scene when Chaplin and his brother and friends are sneaking around the film footage of The Kid from the brass who want it for tax purposes).

What makes it almost outstanding, however, is Downey Jr. He's funny as Chaplin when he needs to show how he was a great clown (i.e. the 'old-drunk' bit), he's melancholy when needed, he plays Chaplin as young, middle-aged, and old perfectly, and there's just the slightest details that keep you glued to the screen to see what he'll do next. It's not exactly a breakthrough role as he'd been doing some really good work intermittently in the late 80s, but this is the one that got him recognition by the likes of the Academy, and rightfully so. It's masterful work in a decent tribute to Sir Charles "Tramp" Chaplin, and should delight those looking for a good ensemble and a commanding lead performance.