One of the Best Looking Movies Ever

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2014)

I think this might be the easiest of Woody's movies to follow, and maybe the most entertaining. If you're not generally a fan of his brand of filmmaking, you might still enjoy this one. The movie starts out following the lives of a couple vacationing in Paris, Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. They are engaged, but her parents aren't very approving, and Owen doesn't really fit in with her friends either. Everyone does a great job of being extremely unlikable, which makes it easy for the audience to side with odd man out Wilson. He eventually breaks free when he takes walk and gets transported to the past where he meets and parties with historical figures. Wilson's enthusiasm and timing are what made these scenes fun for me--he is so excited to be hanging out with Cole Porter and Zelda Fitzgerald. I was hoping Tom Hiddleston would be one of the highlights, but he isn't given much to do. Instead, the guy playing Hemingway totally steals it, and the rest of the movie doesn't have anything as awesome as his scenes. Except for the cinematography, which will make Paris look like the most amazing city on earth. Wilson eventually comes to understand that he doesn't want to live in the past, and that there are people from every generation who romanticize the time period before theirs. He embraces life and breaks up with McAdams' shrew, a much more evil character than the one she played in a movie that promised "Mean Girls" in its title. Although there were only a few scenes where the dialog was at its best, I am sure I will watch this movie again just for the incredible shots of the scenery. It's relaxing just thinking about those street scenes with the light rain reflecting off the pavement, almost like a perfect memory from a great vacation.