One of Woody's Best

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2011)

"Midnight in Paris" has one fault that simply could not be fixed. The lead character, Gil, is Woody Allen as we've seen him in decades past. But he's inhabiting Owen Wilson's body, and Wilson has neither the voice nor the mannerisms to fill Woody's part. Otherwise, the film has everything you could ask of a Woody film. That includes one of Woody's preoccupations: in this case Paris in the 1920s. There's fine acting, including Carla Bruni in a brief but important appearance as a museum guide. There's brilliant satire. The scene between Gil and Hemingway simply nails Hemingway to the cross of contemporary criticism. The scenes involving Gertrude Stein and Picasso are equally on target. And in delicious irony, the beautiful young woman (Marion Cotillard) Gil takes up with in 1920's Paris joins him in a detour to La Belle Epoch and wants to remain there because she's so unexcited by the 1920s Paris that Gil idolizes. Numerous famous names from the past have their turn on the screen in lovely vignettes, and the Paris landscape is displayed in enough photos to fill a tourist's album many times over. Don't miss this one.