Review of Midnight in Paris (2011) by The D — 20 Jul 2013

(8/10).

Midnight in Paris is a Woody Allen film starring Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Adrian Brody and others. This film was getting rave reviews and Oscar buzz when it came out so I was excited for it, but at the same time, I'm not a big fan of Woody Allen so that counter-acted my excitement a little bit. I had to watch this twice to actually critique this film and give it a rating, but I'll get into that at the end of my review =P.

This movie is very whimsical without ever being cheesy or derivative and is very "easy to watch" compared to many other Woody Allen films of recent years. This film barely missed out on being in my top 20 films of 2011 and it would probably be at #21 if I had made a top 25.

Midnight in Paris is definitely top tier Woody Allen and his best film in many many years. Everyone gives good performances and the film is directed very sensitively by Woody Allen. If this movie came out when Woody Allen was in his prime, Owen Wilson's character would have definitely been played by Woody Allen himself. Owen Wilson is easily the best Woody Allen double ever. There isn't anything bad about this movie really, and at times it's very thought-provoking, but the movie as a whole doesn't really pack enough punch to be considered a great movie.

The thing I like the most about Midnight in Paris is that it deals with time travel, but it never explains how or why Owen Wilson is going back through time and encountering Salvador Dali and Ernest Hemingway. If the movie tried to explain why this is happening, I could guarantee you it would lose all of it's charm and become convoluted. Woody Allen was definitely smart not to include scenes where they try and explain the rules of time travel or how Owen Wilson is able to do this.

At the beginning of my review, I mentioned how I had to watch it twice, so I will explain what I mean. I watched this film About 2 years ago, when the movie came out on DVD, I watched it with my girlfriend but we got distracted half-way through the movie and ended up fooling around. The reason why I couldn't critique it the first time around was because I lost my virginity while watching the movie so I obviously couldn't have a clear judgement of the film. I watched it again a week after that ordeal and was able to critique it properly. This movie will always hold a special place in my heart because of that.