"Chaplin" is an incredible film about one of the most incredible and controversial icons in Hollywood history. Robert Downey, Jr. is perfectly cast as Charlie Chaplin, and it is his brilliant performance which earned the Oscar nomination that he deserved and received. Richard Attenborough did a masterful job directing this masterpiece of biographical films. Two actors who are underrated for their performances are Paul Rhys (who played Sidney Chaplin), and Moria Kelly (who played both roles of Hetty Kelly and Oona O'Neil Chaplin). Kevin Kline is amazing as Douglas Fairbanks. There is one scene in the film where Douglas Fairbanks, knowing he is ill, looks at his reflection in a mirror on the bar. That is one example of the symbolism throughout the film by director Richard Attenborough that is astonishing. Robert Downey, Jr., plays off the great Sir Anthony Hopkins will ease. It is a wonder that with all of his personal problems in his relatively young life that Robert Downey, Jr. doesn't appreciate the opportunities that have been handed to him. There is incredible talent in this film - including a previously Oscar-winning director and actor (Attenborough and Hopkins, respectively) and a female actor who would win an Oscar for another film that same year of 1992 (Marisa Tomei). Even Dan Aykroyd is almost overlooked as silent comedy filmmaker Mack Sennett. Through "Chaplin" we realize that it was Mack Sennett who discovered Charlie Chaplin as well as other comedy greats at the beginning of Hollywood history. "Chaplin" is underrated and sometimes underappreciated, but it is a brilliant film that should be considered a classic when the time is appropriate.
Review of Chaplin
