A very good film but I wish it hadn't received so much praise.

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2012)

"The Artist" is a great example of a very good film that was over-hyped by critics. Again and again, I heard how the film was a prime Oscar-contender. So, as a result, I had EXTREMELY high hopes--too high, actually. If I'd heard nothing about the film, I would have left the theater VERY satisfied.
Oddly, this film is the second homage to silent films that's been released in the last few months. "HUGO" was simply brilliant (and my hope is that it gets the Best Picture nod) and "The Artist" is fortunately very good but quite different in style. It is, aside from one song with lyrics and the end of the film, silent with only some incidental music and occasional sound effects. It's a reworking of the myth about TONS of silent stars losing their careers because of their inability to adapt to talking pictures (popularized by the film "Singing in the Rain"). I say 'myth' because actually very few major actors really lost their careers due to the coming of talking pictures. Two frequent examples often cited, Clara Bow and John Gilbert, really weren't lost in talkies completely because of their voices. Sure, Bow had a thick New York accent--but her odd-screen antics (she was the Lindsay Lohan of her day) and fragile mental health really did a lot more to push her out of films. But Gilbert did some amazingly good talkies and his losing his career had a lot more to do with Louis B. Mayer hating him--as well as Gilbert's heavy drinking--and nothing to do with his fine voice. But,...back to the story.
Jean Dujardin plays a huge silent film star--one very similar to Douglas Fairbanks. Along the way, he helps an aspiring actress (Bérénice Bejo) and soon she, too, becomes a star. However, when talking pictures come, she becomes a mega-star and Dujardin becomes a has-been. The plot is quite a bit like a reworking of "A Star is Born"--and is clever enough and new enough not to be repetitive. However, to me, the star of the film was actually Uggie--the wonderful dog (actually three different ones according to IMDb) who co-starred in Dujardin's silent films.
So why am I only giving the film a very respectable 8 when critics are going crazy talking about it? Well, the story is originally but it's also VERY simple. It is also, unfortunately, a tad predictable...though quite satisfying as well. Not a bad film--in fact, a very good one--with nice cinematography and music as well. But probably not among the very best films of the year.
FYI--Dujardin and Bejo have played together before--such as in the very funny James Bond-type comedy "OSS 117"--which is also very well worth seeing.