I heard so much about this movie before I saw it that I was really disappointed when the time came. The only reason I gave it a 4 out of 10 instead of a worse note, is Robert Downey's excellent job and - yeah, even Geraldine Chaplin's portrait of her insane grandmother. But the rest... how uninspired is everything! Hopkins' fictional character is absolutely pointless and pretentious, the portraits of Chaplin's women are so superficial as the historical content (the FBI in a 30years-permanent paranoic attitude towards the dangerous tramp, huuh...), all the details picked up from Chaplin's autobiography are or unreflected or badly told (p. g. the scene where the mother says: "If you only had brought me a cup of tea" - you DON'T understand this if you haven't read the book, and it loses all is meaning, 'cause there is a mix of guilt, fear and love in the feelings of the boy that is almost lost in the scene and the film)... No, this is not a well-told movie. Apart from the fact that it offers no deeper relection on what it IS to be a comedian or a genius. Boring. The best part is, without the shadow of a doubt, the final part where we have the possibility to see original Chaplin-film-scenes. That, indeed, could be a merit of this movie: it makes you want to watch the true Chaplin.
Review of Chaplin
