In many ways, I can see why everyone seems to love the 2011 Woody Allen romantic comedy fantasy movie, Midnight in Paris. It has a romantic side for the ladies and wine and restaurant themes within the city of Paris for the many fans of the city. A film like this probably should have not worked for me but Woody Allen is probably the one director that could interest me in something like this and he does.
As the title says, the movie is set in Paris with lead character Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) going through a crisis involving his love life. He can't decide if wants to live the rest of his life with his fiance Inez (Rachel McAdams) or a woman named Adriana (Marion Cotillard) who he meets through time travel that allows him to go back to the 1920's.
This is a plot that kind of goes in different directions. The time travel idea is obviously different for a romantic film and the film delivers the feel of the 1920 very well which brings a lot to the table including figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Picasso. The scenes of Paris are beautiful and this movie is stylized very well. Paris, the City of Love, is naturally a great setting for this love story and the plot makes you look at many sides of the story. That said, there is some dry writing throughout, some very slow scenes and the pace of the movie is slow overall. Much of the plot is typical of romatnic movies which again I am not a big fan of and I would rate the plot as only "fair".
Probably the main reason why I liked this movie is the cast. From leads, Wilson and McAdams to the supporting characters played by Adrien Brody and Kathy Bates, they are excellent and helped the movie work through it's flaws.
I enjoyed Midnight in Paris and got something out of it but only to a point. While I liked it, it is a one-time watch for me.
4/5
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