MOVIE REVIEW: Midnight in Paris (2011)

I'm still reeling from having seen Midnight in Paris, not because it blew me away as a masterpiece, but because of how much I appreciated it's relative originality. While I'm not a huge Woody Allen fan, I'll admit, he's the most entertaining and artistically-gifted misanthrope in Hollywood. He'd probably balk at that comment, 'cause Allen is as notoriously anti-Hollywood as any director can get. He shuns the Academy Awards, his films survive more than one week only in New York and L.A., and Europe is the one place where he has mainstream popularity (I can attest from personal experience, Allen is to Spain what Jerry Lewis is to France). But enough about the man, let's see what he has to offer us...

Midnight in Paris is about Gil, a socially-awkward screenwriter who's working on a novel in order to break the mundane routine of his career. While on vacation with his materialistic fiancee and equally snooty future in-laws, he is lured into a 1920s Ford Roadster that appears on the stroke of midnight on a deserted street. Gil is swept into a smoky bar where Cole Porter is playing piano, and he finds himself mingling with the likes of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Stein, et al. of the important artistic and literary figures of his ideal golden age. In spite of discovering an escape from being born in the wrong decade, things get complicated when Gil begins to fall for a young flapper, who seems to be the muse of his byegone idols.

Witty and fun, Midnight in Paris really spoke to me, based on the themes of nostalgia and what it feels like to wish that you belonged in a different time, where things were simpler and you felt you shared the same desires and ambitions as those in the time. I, personally am a fan of the 20s, so seeing these figures brought to life by some terrific actors is really a treat! Owen Wilson also does a good job of channeling Woody Allen's insecurities and idiosyncracies, since you can really tell the role is a mirroring of Allen, but Wilson makes it his own, charisma and all. The Paris locations were shot beautifully, and the audience is treated to wonderful images of Versailles, the Seine docks, and even some great period set designs that had me yearning to see the excellent Bullets Over Broadway again. Not entirely groundbreaking as a romantic comedy, but definitely one of Allen's recent best.

8/10

Peace,
- Jon