I was the youngest member of the audience where I saw this!

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2011)

I have seen only three Woody Allen movies that I've really liked. The first was the science fiction parody, SLEEPERS, co-starring Diane Keaton. The second was A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY, co-starring his then-wife, Mia Farrow. And, this new one makes three!
And, that's kind of ironic, now that I think about it. SLEEPERS dealt with a man who was cryogenically frozen in the 1970's, only to reawaken a hundred years later in a quasi-dystopian future that's equal parts George Orwell and Groucho Marx. Whereas, in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY, Woody dealt with a group of Victorian-era couples who were torn between how they felt about their attraction to each other's spouses in the physical world versus what might happen to them, in the next world, if they acted on those feelings.
Now, he deals with a guy who feels literally born out of his time. What the pedantic Ray calls "Golden Age thinking." One of the few things he spouts off about that I agree with (and, probably, so did the rest of my fellow movie-goers, who were mostly over 60!).
Gil Pender idolizes the Paris of the post-World War I "Lost Generation." But, Adriana--the model/costume designer he gradually falls for in that period--idolizes the "Beautiful Epoch" of the 1890's. And, in trying to hang on to her, when they inadvertently visit the latter era, he has a brilliant realization. Nostalgia, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder!
What each of us regard as the "Good Old Days" weren't entirely good at the time. And, the times we live in now aren't entirely bad. Although, the trick to having a life-long relationship, in these modern times, is finding someone who shares those feelings. Someone not addicted to just the here-and-now (like Inez and her parents). Yet, someone who can also revere the past without naively worshipping it!
Gil is lucky in the end. He finds his soul mate. Of course, he had Woody Allen (who, I believe, also provided most of the background clarinet music in this film) helping him from behind the scenes! The rest of us have to manage, more or less, on our own.
Don't let that stop you from enjoying this little gem, however. Especially, if it can provide you some much needed laughs of the old-fashioned (= non-raunchy) kind.