ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. captures the essence of comic genius Charlie Chaplin in a compelling, nuanced performance that earned him Oscar(r) and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor. Director Richard Attenborough's well-crafted portrait traces Chaplin's impoverished London upbringing, extraordinary success as an actor and director, his troubled marriages, scandalous affairs, shocking exile to Switzerland and his triumphant return to Hollywood. The huge star-studded cast includes KEVIN KLINE, DAN AYKROYD, MILLA JOVOVICH, DIANE LANE and GERALDINE CHAPLIN (as her own grandmother), and Downey's astonishing mimicry of Chaplin's gait, gestures and accents complete a dazzlingly authentic portrait of one of cinema's first pop culture icons.
Sir Richard Attenborough's biographical film of the life and times of Charles Chaplin is a little thin as a narrative, but it is so charmingly creative and ultimately moving, it's hard to care about any deficits. Robert Downey Jr. does an excellent job re-creating Chaplin's graceful slapstick and getting inside the silent-film superstar's head over many years of triumph, defeat, scandal, official persecution, exile, and inner peace. A huge cast portray the allies, friends, lovers, and enemies in Chaplin's life, including Moira Kelly as his final, longtime wife, Oona, Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks, Geraldine Chaplin as Charlie's mother, and James Woods as a prosecutor working hard to nail Chaplin for anti-American sentiments. Attenborough declines to tell the story in a flat, linear way, employing such clever techniques as detailing one chapter in Chaplin's life as a silent comedy. The climactic scene set at an Oscar tribute for Chaplin will get the tears flowing. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Wonderful Chaplin:
I can't really say much. Robert Downey, Jr. was wonderful as Chaplin. The movie is a must see for any fan of Chaplin or Downey.
"The man's a wizard with women.":
In the hands of director Richard Attenborough, Charlie Chaplin's life story becomes a sweeping and touching drama. Robert Downey, Jr. gives an unforgettable performance as Chaplin, who rose from the slums of London to become Hollywood's favorite silent movie character, the Tramp. Along the way, Charlie had to deal with his mother's insanity, his love affairs, marriages, and a paternity scandal, all involving much younger women, and investigation by none other than J. Edgar Hoover. This very... more info
Not much of an anniversary celebration...:
I would agree with D. Reyes' review on this dvd reissue. The picture quality is improved, but the special features are very short and the two short docs that were on the original release are not included here. Surely they could have squeezed an extra 14 minutes of material onto this anniversary release. A commentary would have been wonderful, as would some deleted scenes. Attenborough states that he wishes he could make the film again, so perhaps we might see an extended version or director's cut one day... more info
This is an okay re-release:
The first time this came out on DVD was in 1998 I believe. The new release differs in the sense that it's a cleaned up print and that it's also enhanced for 16x9 televisions, where as the original wasn't. If you watched the original on a wide screen TV it was letter boxed. As far as special features go for this one, there's about 3 new featurettes that are less than 10 minutes long as well as some home movie footage of Charlie Chaplin and of course a trailer. Unfortunately there are no deleted scenes.... more info
