Review of Chaplin (1992) by Yannick B — 26 Nov 2008

Everyone has a wild side. Even a legend.

Wow, this is one of the finest acting jobs I have seen as Robert Downey Jr. portrays the famous Charlie Chaplin. His performance includes some of Chaplin's famous slapstick moves and Downey is tremendous at executing them.

To the film's credit ,it does show both the good and bad sides to this famous man. But it's definitely biased. Just check out how they portray J. Edgar Hoover, a man Hollywood loves to hate (along with any Conservative or Republican). Hoover is pictured as mean-spirited and nasty throughout, and is even blasted in the ending credits! His first speech at a dinner table, intended to show him in a negative actually shows him to be prophetic whether Tinseltown ever admits it or not.

Regarding Chaplin, if the film was the truth (that's always a big "if"), then it WAS a real miscarriage of justice to kick him out of the country for having a baby he didn't produce. Nevertheless, most of the film centers around his career and his wives, most of whom were very pretty with great figures.....but too young, most of them being teenagers!

Also shown nicely in the film are Chaplin's talent, his obsession with work, his great friendship with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (Kevin Kline), the great films he produced and the sympathy he had with the American poor. On the other side, in addition to his pedophile instincts, one wonders why Chaplin never became an American citizen? They certainly did not help his cause.

The movie sports a big-name cast, with Kline probably providing the most likable role next to Downey. The women were very interesting: from Geraldine Chaplin playing Charlie's insane, pathetically-sad mother to beauties like Milla Jovovich, Diane Lane and Moria Kelly, the latter playing Chaplin's final and devoted wife "Oona.".

Also in here are some big names: Anthony Hopkins, Dan Ackroyd, Penelope Ann Miller, Marissa Tomei, James Woods, Nancy Travis and Paul Rhys. They all help make this a memorable biography. It's beautifully filmed with a number of stunning scenes and also has a classy soundtrack. The ending is manipulative, but it works. It always brings a tear to my eye.

I liked what they did at the end with the small biographies of all the leading characters and visually showing who played each one. I wish all films did that.

It is now one of my all time favorites :D.