Good film with some flaws

Rating: 6/10 (10 July 2011)

The Good: One of the most approachable Woody Allen films in years. It paints a lovely portrait of Paris, a real character in the film. It presents a nice message about the need to live in our own real time and make the life we want for ourselves. Owen Wilson is charming and pleasant in his role. The concept of reaching out and touching a group of legendary people from the past is fun and Bates and others give very intriguing performances as the literary/cultural figures in the time periods visited. Allen also spares us most of the clichÃ©s from a "time travel" film - the choice at the end whether to stay or not, the friends discovering the time portal, the race against time etc. No, this is a piece about the mood and ambiance of a different age, the time travel bit is more a flight of fancy and/or fantasy
The bad: What Allen saves in clichÃ©s on the time travel theme we gives back in terms of the characterizations of the other present-day characters. The fiancÃ©e, her parents, her friends all have next to zero redeeming qualities. They are extremely unpleasant to be around, making Wilson the only likable person in the present day by default. You hope from the onset that he will break it off with this woman, her family and friends, so there is little tension there.
Not that much happens in the film. Yes, it's intriguing to meet Getrude Stein, Hemingway, Picasso but really they just say some clever things and that's the extent of it. Wilson is immediately and warmly welcomed into this tight-knit clique of 1920's artists and writers, apparently there is no need for money, he is invited in everywhere he goes. The film also fails to show any of the realities of the 1920's or the Belle Epoque, so Wilson comes to the conclusion it's better to live in his own time not by seeing the other time is not so great but because he sees Cotillard fawning over the Belle Epoque instead of the 1920's. Had that not happened, Owen would have probably gladly agreed to stay there, again with no immediate need for money, a place to stay etc.
The movie is like a Parisian pastry, which is fun to eat but then later you wonder if it was worth all of the calories.
It was a very sweet homage to Paris, some intriguing portraits of larger than life people but the final message in the end, the characters in the present-day were a little thin.