“Midnight in Paris” is written and directed by Woody Allen. Many critics are considering it his “comeback film”. I can’t agree or disagree because this was my first Woody Allen film when I saw it this spring. What I can agree with is that “Midnight in Paris” is a delight to watch.
Owen Wilson plays Gil, a Hollywood screenwriter who’s trying to complete his first novel. Gil and his fiance Inez (played by Rachel McAdams) are visiting Paris with Inez’s parents. One night Gil takes a walk through the city alone. At the stroke of midnight a car drives up and the people inside ask Gil to come with them to a party. And he goes with them.
Gil ends up meeting some extraordinary people that night, and he’s both amazed and puzzled as to what is actually going on. Is it real or just his imagination? Meantime, Inez and her parents think Gil has gone crazy, but he keeps going out every night, getting into the car and meeting more and different incredible people each night.
I’m intentionally not giving anything away and I hope you don’t read too much about “Midnight in Paris” before you see it. I didn’t know the “surprise” before I saw it and it would be great if you didn’t either. And I’ll admit that I didn’t get all of the jokes and comments about the characters Gil meets along the way because I wasn’t familiar with some of them. This could be an issue with you as well, but it won’t prevent you from enjoying the film.
Allen begins “Midnight in Paris” with a long series of shots of Paris, from morning to night. I learned later that this is somewhat of a trademark for him, but I found myself wondering when the actual story would begin. The sequence is beautiful, but it goes on a bit too long.
The script is terrific, with sharp dialogue and funny but believable situations. The performances are great, especially Wilson. Other in the A-list cast include Marian Cotillard, Kathy Bates and Michael Sheen, who plays a loud-mouth know-it-all.
I especially enjoyed Allen’s style of shooting scenes, some of them several minutes long, without any cutaways or breaks in the action. This is such a nice change of pace from the crazy cut/zoom/tight shot/wide shot style of most Hollywood films.
“Midnight in Paris” is rated PG-13 for some adult content and language, but there’s very little. It’s appropriate for teens and up. Again, the older you are the more of the movie you may “get” – but I’m not going to explain why.
On “The Official Kid Critic Report Card“, “Midnight in Paris” gets a B.
Allen and the film have picked-up many nominations and end of the year awards, generating plenty of Oscar buzz. This will definitely help DVD/Blu-ray sales for the movie.