Forget what you may have heard about 1992's "Chaplin" being a tabloid approach to the life of Charles Spencer Chaplin's. It does not focus on Chaplin's body of work as much as his turbulent personal and love life, which seems to turn most viewers off. Fortunately, its lead extracts nothing but magic from the material.
Robert Downey, Jr. gives an Acadamy Award-nominated performance with spot-on physical pantomime. He gracefully handles the difficult task of recreating Chaplin's physical art from his adolescence through his elderly exile in Switzerland. He plays him as a tortured bad boy and somehow makes the audience (like the film's director) turn a blind eye to the more scandalous aspects of Chaplin.
Downey skillfully navigates director Richard Attenborough's loving yet ambivalent handling of Chaplin's scandals. Attenborough was lucky enough to have also a brilliant score by John Barry and a brawny supporting cast, because the script is undeniably overwrought and unfocused. Downey Jr. makes a shallow handling of the Chaplin story into a highly-watchable experience. With a better script this could have been gold.
Robert Downey, Jr. gives an Acadamy Award-nominated performance with spot-on physical pantomime. He gracefully handles the difficult task of recreating Chaplin's physical art from his adolescence through his elderly exile in Switzerland. He plays him as a tortured bad boy and somehow makes the audience (like the film's director) turn a blind eye to the more scandalous aspects of Chaplin.
Downey skillfully navigates director Richard Attenborough's loving yet ambivalent handling of Chaplin's scandals. Attenborough was lucky enough to have also a brilliant score by John Barry and a brawny supporting cast, because the script is undeniably overwrought and unfocused. Downey Jr. makes a shallow handling of the Chaplin story into a highly-watchable experience. With a better script this could have been gold.