Midnight in Paris Review

Rating: 5/5

Culture is a beautiful thing. Without great books, films, videogames, plays, music, opera, etc, humanity would just be a bunch of monkeys with the tendency to shoot each other. However, getting too sucked into culture can be dangerous in the sense that someone can forget the wonders of their world by becoming taken with the world created by Hemingway or McCarthy. All of this is adressed magnificently in Midnight in Paris.

Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a writer on vacation in Paris with his bitchy fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her equally bitchy parents. Gil is taken with the city, and wishes that he were in the roaring 20's, an era he endlessly praises in his as-yet-unfinished novel. Inez will, in true Woody Allen fashion, have none of it, and is happier admiring the pretentious and pedantic Paul (Michael Sheen). One night, Gil gets into an old fashioned car and is transported to 20's Paris, where he meets his idols and learns about himself.

Midnight in Paris has a feel to it that only Woody Allen could have produced, and he did. When Gil runs into Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, and Picasso among others, Allen captures the characters in such a way that is both hilarious and amazing. The acting is perfect, from Owen Wilson (easily his best non Wes Anderson performance) to Adrien Brody (hilarious as Salvador Dali), everyone plays their part very well.

This is of course complemented by the ingenious writing and direction, and the cinematography. I don't know how he does it, but Woody Allen has an amazing way of capturing places. Not just people, but the cities that his characters are in. In the old days it was New York and here it's Paris. The way Allen takes us through this amazing city, whether in modern day or the 20's, made me fall in love with Paris, and I've never even been there.

Midnight in Paris isn't better than 13 Assassins in my book, but not everything has to be a contest. It's funny, touching, beautiful, amazingly well made, and pretty perfect. Easily Allen's best movie in years, Midnight in Paris is totally worth your time.