Midnight in Paris User Reviews

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Midnight in Paris is a delightful little film, written and directed by none other then Woody Allen, and honestly probably my first entry into the films of Woody Allen. Honestly I can't remember any other Woody Allen film that I've seen, so forgive me if I'm a bit ignorant in this review.

What's intriguing about Midnight in Paris, is that it is a time-traveling romantic comedy (yeah...that sounds pretty far-fetched, I know). The film stars Owen Wilson as Gil, a successful Hollywood screenplay writer, whom is trying his hand at writing a novel. His fiance is very against his ideas of writing a novel, and wants him to continue his screenplay work instead. What's more interesting is that, from the beginning, we know that Gil and Inez ( Rachel McAdams) aren't meant to be together, but we (the audience) are the only ones that get this. They are on a vacation/business trip in Paris. After being bored with Inez' friends, and not wanting to go dancing, Gil decides to take a walk through the city and gets partially lost. During this, he stumbles across a strange occurrence: a car pulls up to him, and asks him to get in. Its through this act that he is transported back to the 1920's, and where he meets most of his artistic mentors and inspirations. The film stars a great cast of supporting characters, with great performances from Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody , Kathy Bates, and Corey Stoll. They all play various famous figures from the 1920's, all whom have inspired Gil in some way. Through these trips he brings his novel, in which they read it, and each character critiques the novel for him. Through the end of the film, we get the satisfying realization of what should happen.

But perhaps the biggest star of Midnight in Paris is the city itself, which is just beautifully shot throughout the entire film. The opening scenes of the film are just many random shots of Paris, all beautiful in their own unique way.

Midnight in Paris isn't a film I can compare to anything else, and the only comparison I can even come close to making is something like Big Fish, which really isn't even a fair comparison, as they are two completely separate films. Also, there is much less fantasy within Midnight in Paris. In fact, the only actor I can point out that doesn't really do anything with their role would be Rachel McAdams. I could take or leave her performance. In fact, until I finished the film I hadn't even realized that it was her, since her hair is blonde in this film. This is the kind of films that Owen Wilson needs to star in, especially for someone I would have called a "has been" earlier this year. Wilson brings a charm and depth into his performance, and creates a very likeable character within Gil.

Overall,Midnight in Paris is one of the best movies I've seen this year. From the beginning to the end, it is perfectly paced, charming, and has enough weight to back itself up in the end. It will be interesting to see if the Academy agrees.