Way Overrated

Rating: 2/10 (27 June 2012)

This movie slogs along on some tried & true Hollywood tropes & lots of long slow stretches of treacly sentimentality. The "hero" is supposed to represent an icon from the classic period of silent film but from the few movies you see him performing in it's hard to tell if he's supposed to be Fairbanks, Chaplin or Valentino.
I think The Artist would have worked better if he had been a consistent character with backbone & spunk because ultimately he just turns out to be Norman Maine, from A Star is Born, wallowing in self-pity.
Harold Lloyd made many films in a similar vein but every scene was filled with inventiveness & humor as well as pathos.
The dog should have received the Oscar.