Chaplin (1992)

Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is film of great performances. Robert Downey Jr is incredible as Charlie Chaplin. Kevin Kline is an excellent Douglas Fairbanks. Geraldine Ctaplin is splendid playing her own grandmother. Maria Pitillo has too small a role as Mary Pickford. It is one of Milla Jovovich's early roles when she was sixteen but looks older. Kevin Dunne is persuasive as J Edgar Hoover. Dan Akroyd is his annoying self as Mack Sennet. Diane Lane offers up a compelling Paulette Goddard. James Wood is a grating lawyer. David Duchovny and Marisa Tomei also have roles. Downey was rightfully nominated for an oscar for his role but lost out to Al Pacino (in Scent of a Woman).The telling of the story was interrupted with irritating scenes of Chaplin discussing his autobiography with his publisher. It seems these might be ways around parts of the biography that were unclear or left out.The film offered glimpses into the silent era of Hollywood and documented some of the tribulations that Charlie Chaplin encountered in his life. Like any movie it couldn't do justice to a fifty year career but was a remarkable effort.

it seems easy to define it. if you consider it a biographic film. or the work of a great actor. or portrait of Chaplin. a real good one. in fact, the film is little more. not a portrait but a trip. not a great work but a honest confession. not a surprise. only expression of precise definition of realities of a man making art. not revelation of secrets. only a form of proposition about the only important things. it could be defined a masterpiece if it grew up in yourself. because its Chaplin is out of explanations. he is well known. but the surprise remains as an air of state. and this impose the film as a happy meet.

According to me this film is very good and interesting, because it teach us lots of things about one of the most important actor in the history of the cinematography and it does it without become boring and tedious. I really enjoyed it also because before watching it I didn't know many things about him: I knew that he was a very famous and popular actor in the 1920's, at the beginning of the film history, but I didn't know anything about his private life and the difficulties that he overcame, such us his childhood in London and the problems with the US government, and in spite of these he became one successful actor and film producer. Therefore, in my opinion, this film is very interesting, especially the parts when we see him creating his most famous masterpieces, so we can understand the difficult process of make a film at that time and the amazing work that he did in his life.

Richard Attenborough does a brilliant job of bringing Charlie Chaplin to the screen in a wonderful biopic. It captures the genius of Chaplain and sets the right tone for the time it was depicting.Robert Downey Jr really deserved an Oscar for this.Apart from Jamie Foxx' near perfect depiction of Ray Charles in Ray, Robert Downey Jr does one of the best acting jobs portraying such a well known person.All the supporting cast are also excellent and although this is a long movie I never once get bored while watching it.It is rare to find a fairly recent movie that could be termed a classic, but Chaplin is one of those films.