Search - Everybody's Famous! on DVD

S A A. (Learned2Heal)
Reviewed on 7/26/2009...

What a clever and interesting movie! The acting was great, the characters very multidimensional, the twists in the plot so cool and unexpected. It gave my husband and me a real lift. That song is amazing! Lyrics and all. I gave it 4.5 stars. I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it highly!

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Those amusing Belgians......

C. J. Hormann | Wellington, New Zealand | 07/29/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In Europe, the Belgians are generally held to be the butt of jokes, especially by their French neighbours, in the same way that the English are always making Irish jokes. However in recent years there have been a number of films that have come from that little country which have shown a dark and wicked humour. This film, while not quite as original as the hilarious "The Carriers are Waiting" does have enough camp humour to keep viewers entertained.Working at a bottle factory, Dad has dreams for his not-so-talented daughter, who is forever coming last in the local talent contests. He also believes he has a pop hit on his hands, with a tune that he has been humming. As chance would have it, he comes across .... What follows is a mostly funny, sometimes cruel look at the notion of celebrity and the lengths people will go to in order to achieve it - a natural bedfellow, though not in the same class as Scorcese's "King of Comedy".The humour is not terribly subtle but scores in the talent show scenes, especially the Michael Jackson lookalike and the blacken-faced man who does Otis Redding and also with Marva, the daughter, .... That aside, it is an entertaining diversion in the same way as "Muriel's Wedding" was, and I dare you not to hum 'Lucky Manuelo' days after watching this!"

A Belgian Oddball Comedy/Drama about a Father and a Daughter

Tsuyoshi | Kyoto, Japan | 12/24/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One of the nominees at the Academy Award for Best Foreigen Film category, "Everybody's Famous" gathered considerable attention of critics, but at the same time divided their opinions. That is only natural because this Beligian film is too light-weight and predictable for all its charms and sentiments. So, which side you take totally depends on your feelings. The story is reminiscent of the underrated Robert DeNiro - Jerry Lewis comedy satire, "The King of Comedy." A Belgian father working for a bottle factory is desperate to make his 17 year-old daughter a star. But as the terrible performance at local talent show testifies, she is no talent (but she seems to have some potential, since she can really sing at a puppet show, without showing herself up before the audience). One day, however, an incredible chance visits him. He finds a super-star singer Debbie riding a bycicle alone on the road, and inspite of his better judgement, he kiddnaps her, to threaten the producer into making the much-coveted TV debut for his beloved daughter. After these initial events, there are some plot twists leading up to the final moment. I don't know how Belgian people reacted to the film, but I, being a Japanese, found the Flemish humors (if there are) very strange and unique. Of course, that depends on you and your culture, but maybe, I am afraid, during the process of translation we have lost many things. I suspect that, whatever the reason may be, it is nearly impossible for most of English-speaking viewers to seek for the kind of laughs you find in regular Hollywood outings. But you still can enjoy the film as it is, and the father's love for his daughter is a universal theme, which is possibly the best thing of "Everybody's Famous." The last sequence is certainly heart-warming, but I still am not sure whether I really appreciated the film in the right way. That is because the film's satires on show biz world and craze for 15 minutes celebrity are, for me, are too self-evident these days when we have so many "reality TVs" and instant celebrities around us. If only the director developed the initial premise, that's how I thought. The father is played effectively by Josse De Pauw, and also good is Debbie played by Thekla Reuten (if you are looking at a mysterious blue-haired girl on DVD jacket, that is her). But the father's daughter, key character of the film, is played by a newcomer (auditioned for the role, I read) Eva Van der Gucht, who clearly needs more training as a professional. She is no Toni Colette, who could have easily raised the credibility of the film several notches higher."

An emotionally moving story underneath layers of the absurd

Frank Elliott | Hendersonville, NC United States | 02/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This improbable yarn exposes the natural tendency in all cultures to bring forward the beautiful people and raise them to god like status-so money can be made, of course. The theory being, if they are pretty to look at,and talented, then we can place them before a large audience and then we will all go home laughing all the way to the bank-because we all insist on pretty people to look at, don't we? "American Idol" is a perfect case in point-my how pretty. But boy can they act like they're 5 years old! At first I thought Simon Cowell was excessively rude-insulting these kids before millions of viewers. Those kids will Never get over that as long as they live. But then on the other hand, a goodly percentage of them have no clue that they are given a multi-million dollar opportunity for free (most tragic of all is the simple fact they seem to have no clue whatsoever that they have awful voices ,and sing off key! And when booted off, immediately attempt the crying, whining pleading...like a 5 year old ) Contrary to their haughty little preteen mentalities, they do not deserve it. On any given morning on Good Morning America, it is ALL about the pretty people, the fabulous, charming, happy, slender, smiling stars. Here, in this movie is a refreshing relief from worshiping the pretty- a poor, ugly sap of a father living in a purely functional, dead plain and simple world,- translate ugly, flat, urban landscape, with not a trace of elegant architectural design, or sartorial taste anywhere - loses his meaningless job at the crumbling, rusty, tacky factory, just to go the the tacky pub, and then home to his ordinary home, and wife...and homely daughter who loves to sing. In a kind of fit of desperation, he devises a scheme to kidnap one of the famous starlets his daughter admires on TV. His scheme is to coerce the starlet's promoter of talent on said popular TV show, to promote his daughter to stardom, and he will then return the promoter's starlet in exchange for this ransom. I told you it is an improbable yarn! We would wish the same modicum of success for our homely, lanky, surly, portly son or daughter who , really, have utterly no hope of making it in life. Indeed, homely people have a pretty dismal life to look forward to. There will be no appearing on Good Morning America with our ordinary looks and our ordinary talent. And THAT is what makes this movie a Cinderella story. It strikes a deep, and resounding chord among most of us. What is supposed to be a farce, turns out to be a love story that is less likely to make you laugh as it is to cause big fat tears to roll down your chubby, weatherbeaten, ruddy cheeks, to be wiped away with your gnarled, working stiff's hands. Since you were expecting to laugh, it will take you by surprise emotionally. You'll be embarrased to find yourself glancing around furtively to see if anyone sees "beeg stdrong mahn, weeping like school girl". I suggest you do have some tissue handy, so you can pretend to cough with a cold, and blow your nose, and wipe off those cheeks."