Return to form for Woody? I enjoyed it anyway

Rating: 7/10 (1 November 2011)

Many of the reviews of "Midnight in Paris" describe it as return to form for Woody Allen. We've all heard that many times before but I was still persuaded to see it as I hadn't seen one of his movies in years.
I did enjoy the movie though it hardly a classic. It begins with a title sequence featuring views of Paris, often in the rain, that reminded me of the beginning of "Manhattan".
The movie is about an American screenwriter, played by Owen Wilson, who is in Paris with his fiancée, played by Rachel McAdams. He is trying to write a novel, feeling he is wasting his time making easy money from writing movie scripts. He is a sentimental soul. He loves Paris but imagines it would have been ideal to live there in the 1920's with the likes of Picasso and Hemingway. His fiancée is only there for the pre-wedding shopping with her mother and thinks he should be delighted to have such a lucrative career.
His wish comes true when, as he walks back to the hotel alone one night, he is magically transported back to 1920's Paris and finds himself socialising with his artistic heroes. He meets and falls for a French model played by Marion Cotillard and starts to return every night to see her and get advice on his novel from the likes of Gertrude Stein. Allen populates the movie with as many famous artists of the period as possible – Dali, Bunuel, Man Ray.
He is convinced that he doesn't want to return to his old life, only to find that his new love hates the 1920's and imagines that life must have been so much better in Paris during "La Belle Epoque" when Gaugin and Lautrec were around.
This leads to a conclusion where the moral is pretty clear – Even if times were better in times past (and maybe they weren't) you still have to make the most of the times you are living in.
Owen Wilson is well cast as the confused writer. The beatnik persona he has in most of movies his perfect here. McAdams is wasted a bit in the one-dimensional character of his rather unpleasant fiancée. Cotillard is lovely and superb as the world-weary model. As usual with Allen's movies there are plenty of cameos. Adrien Brody's over the top Dali is especially memorable.
I'm sure I missed most of the literary and artistic references in the movie but this didn't stop me from enjoying this well written and beautifully filmed movie.