Chaplin (1992): "Laugh, and the world laughs with you?" But did it WORK?

Okay, so I finally got around to watching "Chaplin" (1992) the other night. Downey Jr. is obviously amazing in it, total transformation. I mean, to capture that specific physicality... like, he became Chaplin. But I'm still a bit torn on the movie as a whole. What I really wanted to dig into was the balance between the comedic genius and the, uh, complicated personal life. Like, were all those wives REALLY necessary to tell the story? I get that it's part of his history, but sometimes it felt like they just kept throwing in another wife just to be like, 'Yup, he was a complicated dude!' Also, that J. Edgar Hoover character – did they overdo it with him? The whole FBI thing was wild, but I almost felt like it overshadowed some of the nuance of his actual comedic work. Like, less 'The Great Dictator' commentary, more pie-in-the-face kinda stuff, ya know? And speaking of 'The Great Dictator,' I was hoping they'd focus more on that moment of him speaking, like, really leaning into the anti-fascist message. That's such a powerfully quotable moment generally – "We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that." – and I kinda wanted more of that fire from the film! So, anyone else have thoughts? Did the movie do Chaplin justice, or did it get bogged down in the scandal of it all? What moments really stuck with you?