Mostly charming, too often cliché

Rating: 6/10 (13 February 2012)

What a coincidence: two of the films nominated for the 2012 Academy Awards Best Picture award--The Artist and Midnight in Paris--are magic-realism tributes from France to America and vice versa. The Artist does this elegantly, with a brilliantly original take on the classic riches-to-rags-to-riches redemption motif. Ironically, while fawning over Paris, Woody Allen had to spoil his movie by larding it with clichés about superficial, materialistic Californians. While The Artist was a pure and innocent celebration of Hollywood, Woody Allen is a typical young American effacing himself before superior European sophistication. Really quite sad, because the premise was clever, and charmingly carried out during those segments when the hero was soiréeing with historical cultural greats. I also love Paris, and also suffer the recurring fantasy of just simply...staying, maybe to write my book. My experience has been that haughty Parisians really are disarmed by Jerry Lewis-like Americans like me and Owen Wilson. ;) Call me another self-effacing young American, but a French director could have pulled off Midnight in Paris with grace and subtle humor while retaining his dignity. Irony noted.