As a huge admirer of Charlie Chaplin, I had high hopes in finally seeing Richard Attenborough's controversial biopic about the comedic legend. The film definitely tries to cover as much ground as it can (It begins when Charlie is 5 in a London music hall and plows through the rest of his life, ending shortly before his death in Vevey, Switzerland, on Christmas Day 1977, at the age of 88) but in doing so abandons depth and development -- so much so that the film inevitably feels like a bunch of glossy broad strokes. Though slow of pace, it is so hurried that the best it can do to cover the material is to identify significant characters and eras and keep moving. That being said, Chaplin does feature two great surprises: The first is Robert Downey Jr. He is good and persuasive as the adult Charlie when the material allows, and close to brilliant when he does some of Charlie's early vaudeville and film sketches. His slapstick routines are graceful, witty and, most important, funny. The other surprise is Geraldine Chaplin, Chaplin's eldest child by his last wife, Oona O'Neill. She's splendid playing her own grandmother, Hannah Chaplin, whose slide into madness provides the movie with its only emotional weight. The film plays rather like the autobiography: windy, courtly, full of names and dates but never terribly revealing about either the film maker's life or his art. Sadly, if you're like me, and are pretty familiar with his life and work, you won't learn anything new or gain any new insight here. In view of the fact that the autobiography was harshly criticized for its superficiality, the narrative device employed by the screenplay is so idiotic as to seem self-destructive. The conceit used to introduce the film's flashbacks is to have the aging Charlie, while working on the book in Vevey, discussing the manuscript with his editor, a fictional character named George Hayden (Anthony Hopkins). It's as if George had already had a peek at the book's reviews. He's likely to say something like: "Charlie, you haven't told us much about your father. Why is that?" To which Charlie might say, "I didn't like him." End of topic. Or, "Tell me, Charlie, when did you actually start work on 'The Great Dictator'?," which serves to introduce a quick clip that demonstrates not much of anything. It's merely a reminder of what the audience is missing. At one point in the film, Downey says, "If you want to learn about me, watch my movies." Sadly, I'd probably give the same advice to anyone who was interested in watching this film. You'll learn more about him through watching his illustrious canon than you will watching this biopic -- and that, unfortunately, is an opportunity missed.