Great story trumps odd casting and portrayals

Rating: 8/10 (21 September 2019)

Free lance writer Wilson travels with fiancee McAdams to Paris while struggling with his latest masterpiece. While there he magically travels back in time and mixes with the expatriates and others of 1920's Paris. I loved the story and the characters involved (I watched the whole thing without even knowing Woody wrote and directed it!). Marion Cotillard steals the show as the enchanting muse of Picasso and others, and Rachel McAdams is good and attractive in the thankless role of the rich ditzy fiancee. Owens does well in portraying the enthusiasm with which his character finds the 20's personalities, but he seems more like a college sophomore than a struggling adult author. Someone with a little more sophisticated aura, like a Tom Everett Scott, might have fit the role better. I thought the portrayals of Stein and Hemingway shallow and uninteresting, in contrast to Cotillard's work, but some of the other parts like Brody as Dali were effective. It's all good fun with some unusual twists and turns that may surprise you. Recommended.