Midnight In Paris

  In “Midnight in Paris,” Owen Wilson is sporting one of his shortest haircuts since “Bottle Rocket,” more than likely to mimic Woody Allen’s blonde locks circa 1977.  I imagine Allen wishes he were young enough to star in this film, his best since “Match Point,” but instead he hired Wilson to act, look and sound exactly like him.  The thick black frames are all that is missing. While I enjoyed the tandem of Larry David and Allen in “Whatever Works,” their chemistry pales in comparison to how perfectly Wilson channels Allen’s charisma, quirkiness and idiosyncratic behavior.  It seems Allen had Wilson in mind the whole time he wrote this script.
    Allen, 75, is famous for being a tireless worker, writing and directing movie after movie without taking a break.  He has completed at least one film every year since “Annie Hall” in 1977.  I have seen about 13 Woody Allen movies and can’t say that I’ve enjoyed one quite as much as I did this one.  It is not his best film, but it is probably his most fun.  When the screen faded to black, I didn’t want the ride to end.  
    I am very happy that I did not research or seek out what this movie was about before going to see it.  In fact, after seeing the trailer, my initial reaction was not a favorable one - I did not want to see a movie where an engaged man goes out every night and has multiple affairs with strange women in Paris; it did not interest me.  Also, I am glad that I did not look up the cast of the movie, more specifically, the names of the characters that the actors play.  It would have given too much of the plot away - I recommend you avoid such information as well.  So, without spoiling anything about the plot of this movie, I was quite pleased when I first discovered what it was that Wilson’s character Gil Pender was doing every night he would walk the streets of Paris. Gil is a very successful Hollywood screen writer who is trying to legitimize his career by writing a novel, one that he is very insecure about.  He later gets some sage advice from someone whose opinion he respects a great deal.
    His fiancee Inez is played by Rachel McAdams, without any of her trademark lovableness.  The charming chemistry that we saw between Wilson and her in “Wedding Crashers” does not exist in this film - the two are in the midst of planning their wedding and seem to be on two completely different pages when it comes to all matters, big or small, about the impending nuptials. Inez wants Gil to continue bringing home the fat paychecks by writing mindless movie scripts and forget about taking a financial risk by turning into a struggling novelist. Her high-class parents are visiting Paris on business and she and Gil are there on a free vacation.  At dinner one evening, Paul (played by Michael Sheen), a former college professor of Inez’s arrives randomly with his wife, much to the distress of Gil.  Paul, ‘a pseudo-intellectual’ as Gil puts it, is in Paris giving a guest lecture and seems to know everything about art, wine, architecture, culture, etc.  Gil constantly looks for any excuse to get out of spending time with Inez, the laughable Paul, and his wife, instead opting to stay behind to edit and re-edit his novel, which is evolving after each night he goes out on the town.
    Woody Allen opens his latest movie with a breathtaking sequence of shots that capture the beauty of Paris.  He rarely sets his films stateside anymore and his adoration for the European lifestyle is evident here.  He loves the idea of outdoor cafes, strolling down romantically lit streets with a baguette under one’s arm and getting caught in the rain.  Allen is truly an international filmmaker.
    One drunken night when Gil, whose awkward clothes even resemble those Allen wore in films of previous decades (drab long sleeve polos, baggy flannel shirts, khakis that are three inches too wide and two inches too short, belts that choke his waistline and cause much fabric bunching), tells the group that rather than go dancing with them, he is going to walk back to the hotel instead.  What happens next reminded me of my favorite movie of all time, Field of Dreams, and is irresistibly fun and entertaining.  It also made me think back to the fun I had with Woody Allen’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo” when Jeff Daniels literally walked off the screen and into Mia Farrow’s life.  Each night for Gil is filled with spectacular adventures that I found myself yearning for more of as the movie ended.  Adrien Brody and Corey Stoll are particularly good, but I shouldn't tell you what characters they play or why they are so memorable.  Marion Cotillard brings another beautiful performance as Adriana, a woman who Gil befriends during his nightly exploits. Cotillard’s classic look makes me think that she truly belongs in the early 20th century rather than the early 21st.
    At exactly the halfway point of 2011, I can not think of a movie this year that I enjoyed more than this film. Allen makes the audience smile with his witty dialogue and fantastic storytelling.  This is a very funny movie. Even though I was only privy to about every four out of five references (I need to do some research and watch the film again), I enjoyed every minute of this movie.  In recent years, Woody Allen has given us such films as “Vicky Christina Barcelona” and “Cassandra’s Dream,” both of which I liked very much but he very obviously is working on a different level with “Midnight in Paris.”  Allen hasn’t won an Oscar in nearly 25 years, but I think that streak may be coming to an end very soon.
    With the gigantic commercial success of J.J. Abrams’ ode “Super 8” and the Foo Fighters’ latest record “Wasting Light” (which they recorded without the help of computers), audiences seem to be responding very positively to the idea of throwback entertainment.  Allen strikes this nostalgic note here, and he strikes it well.  In the end, he wants us to stop romanticizing about eras that have come before us and start appreciating the time that we live in now.  After all, we do currently exist in a world with antibiotics.