User Reviews

Robert Downey Jr. takes the title role in this dramatized biography of the great pioneering silent movie star. Chaplin’s real life was stuffed with scandalous tidbits - romances with much younger women, an ugly paternity suit, clashes with the Hollywood elite, accusations of communism - and those all make it into the film, but muster very little power. Perhaps because they’re noted and discarded so quickly, mere bumps in the golden-paved road that barely cause an inconvenience. The film tries to excuse this with a flimsy framing device, the gray-haired star discussing his career with a ghost writer and intentionally skipping the difficult or revealing bits, but I don’t buy it. Instead it feels intentionally glossy and reverent, a take that’s more into its subject as a heroic underdog than a real, flawed human being. And hey, great, I revere Chaplin too. We don’t need to drag him through the mud to make this biopic interesting... but it does need to be interesting. In that crucial respect, Chaplin is a whiff. Intriguing as it may be to see Tony Stark cosplaying as the little tramp, Marisa Tomei as Mabel Normand, Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks (perfect casting) and an under-aged Milla Jovovich as one of Chaplin’s under-aged brides, there’s very little to carry this film beyond sentiment and star power. A true coattail-rider, told with a dearth of energy and enthusiasm, which is ironic as those are precisely the traits that have made its subject so beloved in the hundred-plus years since his heyday.

One of my favourite things ever. excellent acting and direction. I wished Robert Downey Jr. had won the Oscar for his flawless performance in this movie. Even Geraldine Chaplin, who played the role of her own grandmother, was startled when she first saw Robert and remarked in interviews that it was like seeing her father approach her! This movie is one of the best ones ever created, and I'll never get tired of it.

The first impression I had of this film was that Robert Downey Jnr's supposedly British accent which is featured at the start of the film was less than impressive, to put it mildly. I liked the orchestrated type music played in the background of various flashback scenes. It definitely has that 'Hollywood magic' type feel to it, thanks in part to the orchestral, instrumental music and the portrayal of Chaplin as the on screen caricature, with his visual slapstick cartoonishness etc. Its part serious and part comedic and I enjoyed both aspects of it. I was pleased to see Dan Akyroyd features as Mack Sennett, a Hollywood film director who hires him from the UK. Also present as a sort of narrator, talking to the aging Chaplin and sometimes shown on screen is a man called George Hayden, an editor working with Chaplin on the writing of his biography - he's played by Anthony Hopkins. I thought it was interesting to see things from a social history point of view, in terms of how popular silent films were at the time, how the industry worked and how Chaplin rose to fame etc. all of which aren't things I can profess to know a great deal about. I found it an insightful and entertaining watch and I'd recommend it to others.

A well-made biopic about one of the most extraordinary talents in the history of Hollywood. Richard Attenborough directs 'Chaplin', and stars a charismatic Robert Downey Jr. as Charles Spencer Chaplin, who grew up with his brother Sydney (Paul Rhys) and his mother (Geraldine Chaplin) in a poverty-stricken household. Charles then enters the entertainment business at a very young age, and this proves to be working out since he has a bright future ahead of him in that field. We see his mother doesn't hold very well, as she develops certain mental issues that lead her to stay isolated for her own good. And it seems that Charles doesn't take this as well as he should. Charles then enters the film industry, but decides to make his own films as he has a certain taste for comedy, that may not be for everyone, but his success overshadows his personal life. We see that Chaplin has been in many relationships with many different women, but they all don't have the time or patience for Chaplin's extensive working time. Time and time again, he works from one movie to another, and it seems that he is becoming over-worked, and even ruling himself against the innovation of cinema when "talkies" are being produced. As I mentioned above, this is a well made biopic that focuses mostly on the downfalls of Chaplin's life, but it doesn't explore the deep and dark emotions as well as I had hoped it would. Downey is electrifying as Chaplin, and deserves his Oscar nomination for the role, but the movie is hollow and too dreary for us to care. Had this film explored the deeper route of Chaplin's life, it would have made an exceptional picture for one of the greatest film legends of all time.