Midnight in Paris (***½)
Directed
by: Woody Allen
Starring:
Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom
Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard, Lea Sydoux, Adrien Brody, Kurt
Fuller, Mimi Kennedy
Seen:
December 30th 2011
***½
Out of ****
Up to now I haven’t enjoyed the few Woody Allen movies I’ve seen as
with the exception of Vicky, Christina Barcelona they never really pulled me in
and always struck me as too neurotic for my taste. That said I must admit to
not having seen much of his earlier acclaimed movies, but only his more recent
ones. Midnight in Paris is definitely my favourite Woody Allen movie, as it has
charm in bucket-loads to counter the slight bit of neurosis any Allen movie
typically displays.
Gil (Wilson) and his fiancé Inez (McAdams) are on holiday/sabbatical
in Paris, and while Gil truly enjoys the city as inspiration for his jump from
screen-writing hack to novelist, Inez is there more for the allure of the higher
status in life that Paris seems to offer. Gil wants an intimate holiday, while Inez
is more than happy to spend their days with Carol and the
pseudo-intellectualist Paul (Sheen), who seems to be an expert on everything,
but is shown, to his own objection, to be somewhat incorrect quite often. Gil
can’t stand Paul, but Inez wants to spend time with her friend Paul so badly
that she leaves Gil to wander the streets alone – hardly how engaged couples
should act.
When Inez wants to go dancing with Paul and Carol one night, Gil isn’t
in the mood, and decides to walk to their hotel. He gets lost and ends up on a small
street, where an antique car pulls up and the passengers implore him to join
them. His hosts, Scott (Hiddleston) and Ella (Pill) Fitzgerald, take him to a
party which simply baffles Gill, as it seems to be the mother of all themed
parties – Gill even meets Ernest Hemingway (Stoll) later that night and right
after he leaves the last pub he attempts to go back for a last word, only to
find the pub gone – a Laundromat in its place.
The next evening Gil goes back to the steps and the car pulls up
again, taking Gil back to an age that he dreams of being a better time, where
he thinks he belongs, the 20’s. Here he meets a bunch of famous writers and
artists, From Fitzgerald and Hemingway to Gertrude Stein (Bates), Pablo
Picasso, Salvador Dali, and many more. He has the time of his life and comes
back night after night, longer for something that’s not his own time, longing
to stay back here. Inez’s parents are not that big a fan of Gil though, and her
father John (Fuller) hires a private detective to follow Gil on his nightly
excursions, which quite unexpectedly causes for one of the movie’s funniest
events. In the real world Gil is aloof and not present, while he comes alive
when transported to another era.
Owen Wilson gives an interesting interpretation of a younger Woody
Allen had he been less neurotic, and he really pulls the movie together, while
all the bit-part characters are truly scene-stealers, from Kathy Bates’
Gertrude Stein to Corey Stoll’s Hemingway to Hiddleston’s Fitzerald to Adrien
Brody’s brilliant Dali. Rachel McAdams plays someone I wouldn’t want to get
married to either, with Marion Cotillard displaying some of the charm I so
appreciated from her in Ridley Scott’s A Good Year. The movie doesn’t subtly
hint at its intended message, with an overt reference to being happy with what
you have shining through brightly. This didn’t detract from the unexpected magical
charm of the movie, and I enjoyed every silly, understated moment.
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