Midnight in Paris - Review

I finally reached a huge milestone in my cinematic adventures at the movie theaters. I finally sat down and saw a Woody Allen film on the big screen. This is only the first major stop for myself on a pretentious filmmaker express, as next week will have the train come to rest with the local release of Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE. Oh, what sweet shallowness and superficiality to behold.



I don't mean to be too harsh on these two acclaimed filmmakers, emphasis on the too, but I feel that the sheer artistic boredom and lack of freshness from their recent affairs in film have heavily jaded my senses. My disdain is pure scorched earth. So I tried to break apart this intense loathing I have and decided to check out the newest and most critically praised of Woody Allen's current films. Sadly, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is a repeated affair of Woody-isms, Woody plot structure, and Woody's love of everything pre-rock and roll.



Owen Wilson is Gil Pender, a "popular" film screenwriter who goes on a vacation to Paris with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and his future in-laws. Instead of fighting and arguing with his companions' shrewish and pedantic lifestyle, Gil just auto-pilots through life and constantly nerds completely out with his love of Paris' rich history. He then stumbles into a form of time travel, able to travel back to the 1920's once the clocks hit midnight and a car stops for him to hop in. Once there, he embarks in many conversations with the noted elite of "The Lost Generation" and falls for the "artist groupie" Adriana (Marion Cotillard).



This plot sounds and is cute, but cuteness is only skin-deep. Gil's time paradoxes and multiple mental notes for the artists, such as suggesting to Luis Bunuel the premise of THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, are the only jokes Allen really has going for him. This transforms the film into simply being a popular quiz game for English majors and a day off from work for English teachers. The entire film isn't completely objectionable; Allen knows how to probably block and direct his actors into giving good performances. Cotillard, Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway, Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald, and a hammy Adrian Brody as Salvador Dali are all fine and interesting. The cinematography is also acceptable despite it often being tourist-friendly, most notably in the opening "music video" of Paris.



MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is simply just a satisfactory film that would have entertained myself more if I actually really cared about the magical time in 1920's Paris. Also being an exact and predictable copy of all of Allen's previous film ideas, complete with Cole Porter tunes, didn't help in its favor either. I too often wondered and wished to walk around a certain period of time, i.e. the life and times of the "New Hollywood" regime. However, I always quickly realize that life wasn't always perfect back then and nostalgia is more of a hindrance than a help.




FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5