nicoletofm I saw it a few days ago and it's now definitely among my top 10 Woody Allen favorites. From start to finish I was amazed by how the story was told and it just felt so real. It could be a real documentary! I also admire the job of the actors doing the part of the testimonies and when we are showed the old photos with the Ken Burns Effect. It's incredible they made this in 1983. I don't know if it was the first mockumentary ever done but I'm sure it influenced a lot since then. There are also some good messages and great lines, even it's not your typical Woody Allen script. All the actors are fantastic and the make up is pretty impressing. When it was over I wanted the movie to start again. It is really a different cinematic experience, original, fresh and funny. I recommend it to everyone, while I know not everyone will be as amazed as I was.

kjphyland This could well be a review of 90% of Woody Allen's oeuvre. The film is a smorgasbord of fabulousness - exquisite concepts, very clever lines and very funny ones. No film maker has ever had such a grasp of irony, sarcasm and the ridiculous, and still imbue it with wit and (occasionally) subtlety. But it is the relentless self-deprecation and extant feelings of worthlessness that eventually become wearing after you have watched as many Allen films as I have. This is the film that most impresses you with his confusion over identity however. I could go on about self-analysis for pages but it's unnecessary...just watch any given Woody Allen film. He mellows it out with a rather forlorn sense of romance that becomes endearing rather than pathetic...a skill that is essential to engage with his films. This is a fine film. Oh yeah...and very funny...if you get the references.

Sergeant_Tibbs I'm starting to think that I've underrated Woody Allen. Sure, he can make some half-hearted stinkers but his good stuff is the best of the best. It's remarkable how he can take this simple surreal idea and have it blossom into a unique experience with a mockumentary style. Not only is it profound and heartfelt, but also hilarious every time Zelig's chameleon-like condition effects him. From the plot line, I thought it was some kind of gimmick, but the fact that it's involuntary and Zelig is played as such a blank and naive slate makes him brilliant and sometimes quite relatable. It touches on one of the greatest social dilemmas of the human condition. Blend in at the expense of personal identity or be opinionated and ostracised? This idea hits the gut. Hard.The cause-and-effect of Zelig's condition is highlighted by its broad stroke documentary style where information is given by a narrator or talking head interviews. Consequences are shown immediately and allows the film in its 70 minutes runtime to explore a vast amount of detail, especially in studying celebrity culture and how icons are embraced then ignored. We only get snippets of Zelig himself which are often Allen delivering sharp punchlines but it's Mia Farrow's involvement that gives it a heart. I usually don't feel too engaged by Allen's romances but this one I really wanted to see them get together. With its technical prowess in its innovation matching its profound ideas and creativity, this is one well-rounded picture and one of Allen's best works.9/10

Artimidor Federkiel Woody Allen's genius, intelligence and wit are often only hampered by his insistence to play the same character over and over again in a multitude of films, or at least a version of that archetypal protagonist: a whiny, talky, at any rate neurotic American Jew with never ending problems in the romantic area. This makes him a welcome guest for shrinks, and the resulting filmed self-analysis is all garnished with the typical sophisticated Woody Allen humor. In "Zelig" he is all that and more. As this time our hero proves more adaptable. Literally. And it's a good thing.Allen, who brought the world such fresh comedy ideas like film stars stepping out of the screen, characters sensing that they might be out of focus, writers lost between fiction and reality to name just a few, created with "Zelig" one of the best mockumentaries to date. Subject of course is this peculiar director/writer/actor, who loses himself in the role of a human chameleon, a freak of nature, who has anything but an identity to count on. Apparently his former roles as time traveler, dictator by accident or Vulgarian "spy" were not enough, so Allen pulls out all the stops and turns clown, dentist, professor, Indian, black, fat, mustached and what not - all in one picture. Adapting involuntarily to anything regardless of profession, ethnic or political orientation, the Zelig character goes all the way through, even finding himself consequently in Nazi Germany at a Hitler rally. And he makes a point. Aside from the comic effect of this premise and its perfect execution via newsreels, photo manipulation and the like containing mystifying historical details that never happened, there's that other level to the film as well: "Zelig" deals head on with the complex relationship between individual and society, poses questions about identity and assimilation, and in bringing up all those serious issues is simply hilarious.